Forums:Students

From CLEW Wiki

Contents 1 Get Started with Forums: 2 Viewing Forums: 3 Post a New Message: 4 Post a Response to a Message or Topic: 5 Edit/Delete a Forum Message: 6 Notification of New Postings: 7 Mark Message as Read: 8 Graded Forums:

Get Started with Forums:

"Forums" is a communication tool that students, instructors, and other participants may use to hold asynchronous text discussions.

CLEW also has a "Discussions" tool, which is similar in function to the "Forums" tool. Your instructor may choose to use either the "Discussions" tool or the "Forums" tool for asynchronous discussions. See the Discussions How To sheets for more information about the Discussions tool.

In the left-hand menu, select Forums to get started.

Viewing Forums:

No forums will appear here until the instructor (or someone with an instructor-like role) creates them. You can begin using the Forums tool as soon as your instructor/site organizer has created at least one forum and at least one topic.

Each forum appears in an enclosed box with its title and short description displayed (if added). If a full description of the forum exists, click Read Full Description to view it.

Beneath the forum title, topics are listed by title, and include a short description (if added). The following details also appear:

• A count of total messages
• A count of unread messages
• If a topic is moderated, the word moderated will be displayed.
• If a topic has an attachment, its filename and size will be displayed. Click the filename to open the attachment or save it to your computer.

Clicking the title of any forum will open an isolated view of that particular forum and its topics.

Clicking the title of any topic will display a list of threaded messages for that particular topic.

If a full description of the topic exists, click the Read Full Description link to view it. Each individual thread appears in a list with a count of total messages and unread messages below. Use the arrows to the left of the messages to expand the threads as needed.

To expand all threads and messages, click Display Entire Message in the menu bar. To mark all of the messages as read, click Mark All As Read. To open a printable version of the messages, click the printer icon at the top.

Clicking the title of the thread will open an isolated view of a particular thread and its individual messages. Use the View drop-down list to change the display of messages.

To open an individual message, click its subject.

Post a New Message:

Note: In general, only instructors, site organizers, and those with instructor permissions can create a new topic, but in certain circumstances, instructors may allow students to be able to create topics.

1. On the Forums screen, select the title of the topic for which you want to post a message.
2. Select Post New Thread in the menu bar. The Compose Forum Message screen will open.
3. Next to Title, type the subject (i.e., title) of your message.
4. Under Message, compose your message and format it using the Rich Text editor. You may paste text copied from a word processing program such as Word but please note: Always use the Paste From Word icon to paste text copied from a Microsoft Word document.

   TIP: Another option for pasting safely into CLEW is to copy the text from Word and paste it into another editor first. For example, copy and paste the content into Notepad or Wordpad. Then, select the text in Notepad or Wordpad and copy it. Finally, paste it into CLEW. Although this involves an extra step, and removes most of the Microsoft formatting, this method ensures that the content is legible and editable in CLEW.

5. (optional) To add one or more attachments to the message click Add Attachment. You will be given a choice to:
   • Upload a file from your computer (click Browse); or
   • Enter a URL to link to a website (type or paste in the URL and click Add);
6. Click Continue to add the attachment(s) or Cancel to exit to the forum without adding the attachment(s).
7. Click Post Message to finish or Cancel to topic screen without posting a message.

Note: If the forum or topic is moderated, your message will appear as PENDING until approved by a moderator. Once approved, the message appears without the PENDING label to all participants of the forum. If the moderator denies approval of your message, DENIED will appear beside your message and it will not appear to other participants.

Post a Response to a Message or Topic:

To compose and post a response to another participant’s message in an existing thread,

1. On the Forums screen, click the title of the topic for which you want to post a message.
2. Find and click the subject of the desired message.
3. Click Reply to Thread in the menu bar or Reply to the right of the message.
4. Enter a title for your reply.
5. Under Message, compose your message and format it using the Rich Text editor. To insert a quote of the original message, click the Insert Original Text button.
6. (optional) To add one or more attachments to the message click Add Attachment. You will be given a choice to:
   • Upload a file from your computer (click Browse); or
   • Enter a URL to link to a website (type or paste in the URL and click Add);
7. Click Continue to add the attachment(s) or Cancel to exit to the forum without adding the attachment(s).
8. Click Post Message to finish or Cancel to exit without posting a message.

Note: If the forum or topic is moderated, your message will appear as PENDING until approved by a moderator.

Edit/Delete a Forum Message:

Only those with permission to edit or delete a message are able to do so. Unless your instructor has explicitly changed the default settings, students cannot edit or delete any posts, including their own.

Notification of New Postings:

If Forums is active on your site and appears in the left-hand main menu, you will see an item on your site’s Home page, on the right side of the screen, titled Forum Notifications. To the right of the word Forums, you will see the number of new postings in "Forums". Clicking on the word Forum or on the number will bring you to the Forums main page.

On the Forums main page, you will see a callout balloon beside Topic titles. If the balloon is pink, it contains unread messages. To the right of the title you’ll see the number of total messages and the number of unread messages in this topic. If the balloon is blue, there are no unread messages in that topic.

Mark Message as Read:

CLEW considers a message as unread and will display a Mark as Unread icon beside the message until you do one of the following:

1. You reply to the message;
2. From the view of threaded messages, you open the message in an isolated view; or
3. You click the Mark as Read icon beside the message that is yet unread. You may also open a thread and click the Mark All as Read link found in the menu bar to mark the entire thread of messages as read.

Graded Forums:

If your instructor assigns a grade to a Forums posting, you will be able to see the grade in the "Gradebook" tool; grades are not displayed in "Forums".

Your instructor may choose not to use the Gradebook to display grades. Please read your instructor’s instructions carefully.