Skip to Local Navigation
Skip to Content
California State University, Long Beach
Office of the Provost, Division of Academic Affairs Home
Print this pageAdd this page to your favoritesSelect a font sizeSelect a small fontSelect a medium fontSelect a large font
 
 

Discussions for Students

link to discussions

The Discussions tool, if used by the instructor, provides opportunities for interaction between students and the instructor on key topics relevant to the course.

Access the Discussions tool

Click the Discussionslink on your course navigation bar.

Finding and Reading Messages

Once a discussion gets going, new messages can come in very quickly. To help you keep on top of things, new messages are identified in a number of places. 

  • On your Course Homepage, the Updates widget lists the total number of unread messages for all discussion topics in your course.
  • On the main Discussions page, the number of unread messages appears beneath each topic. To see only topics with new messages, select Topics with Unread from the Display drop-down list.

If you have the Discussions List pane visible you can see topics with unread messages in bold.

Reading messages in Discussions

There are two ways of viewing the messages inside a topic using the Grid Style message list or the Reading Style message list. See Changing your settings to learn how to change your view.

  Grid Style The traditional threaded view. Discussion posts and all associated replies are displayed as a root post followed by replies and replies to replies indented to the right, with more indentation based on the sub-threads
  To post:  Click on the Topic where you want to post a message. Click Compose at the top of the message list. Type your Subject and Message.  Click Post.
  To read:  Click a message’s subject to read the message; the full message appears either at the bottom of the screen or in a new window, depending on your personal settings
  To reply: Click the subject of the message you want to reply to, and then click Reply at the top of the message.
  Messages are automatically marked as read when you open them
  To print:  you can view messages in a printable format and send the messages to your printer.
  Threaded or Unthreaded:  Use the View drop-down list at the top right of the page to switch between Threaded view, where messages are grouped with their replies, and one of the Unthreaded views (All Messages, Unread Only, Flagged Only) where you can sort messages any way you like
Reading Style Shows all the posts from the multiple displayed threads with all the posts open. In other words, the contents of each post are shown for every post in each thread. Replies within a thread are indented to the right for each level of reply.  The full text of every message is always displayed.
  To post:  Click on the Topic where you want to post a message. Click Compose at the top of the message list. Type your Subject and Message.  Click Post
  To reply:  click the Reply link below the header of the message you want to reply to.
  Mark Read:  Click the Mark Read link below a message’s header to tell the system when you’ve read a message. You will need to manually mark messages as read to indicate to the system that the message is no longer new
  Threaded or Unthreaded:  Use the View drop-down list at the top right of the page to switch between Threaded view, where messages are grouped with their replies, and one of the Unthreaded views (All Messages, Unread Only, Flagged Only) where you can sort messages any way you like

Grid Style vs Reading Style Usage Tips

Back to top

Marking a discussion message as read or unread

If you are using the Grid Style message list, messages are automatically marked as read when you open them, but if you are using the Reading Style message list or you print messages to read them, you will need to manually mark messages as read to indicate to the system that the message is no longer new.

In some cases you might also want to manually mark a message as unread, for example, if you open the message from the Grid Style message list but do not finish reading it.

Mark a message read or unread

Do one of the following:

  • In the Grid Style message list, select one or more messages from the list and click the Mark Read or Mark Unread icon at the top of the list.
  • In the Reading Style message list, click the Mark Read or Mark Unread link below the message header.
  • In either view, to mark all messages in the topic read click Mark All Read on the action bar.

Back to top

Flagging a message in Discussions

Flagging messages is a good way to mark a message if you want to read it again later or monitor replies.

To flag or un-flag a message, click the Not Flagged - Click to Flag this item or Flagged - Click to Unflag this item icon next to the message’s subject.

You can quickly find your flagged messages by selecting “Flagged Only” from the View drop-down list at the top right of the message list.

Back to top

Printing messages in Discussions

If you are using the Grid Style message list, you can view messages in a printable format and send the messages to your printer.

  1. In the Grid Style message list, select the messages you want to print.
  2. Click the View Selected Messages as Printable icon at the top or bottom of the list.
  3. Click the Print button.

Posting a message in Discussions

  1. Click on the Topic where you want to post a message.
  2. Click Compose at the top of the message list.
  3. Type a Subject.
  4. Type your Message.
  5. Set any other message options you want. (These options may not be available, depending on the course and the topic.)
    To Do this

    Attach a file

    In the Attachments area, click Add a File and locate the file you want to attach. You can attach as many files as you want.
    Pin message Keeps the message at top of the list for the topic for all users, regardless of any sorting done to the message list.

    Post your message anonymously

    Select Author anonymously, if available.
  6. Click Post.

If the topic is moderated, your message does not appear until it is approved. Moderated topics are indicated by the Messages Require Approval icon beside the topic name at the top of the message list.

Saving a draft message in discussions

You can save your message as a draft instead of posting it right away. Saving a draft lets you return to the message later to edit it before posting it to the topic.

To save a draft, click the Save as Draft button instead of the Post button when writing a message.

To find a saved draft, view the message list for the topic where you created the draft and select “Drafts” from the View drop-down list in the top right corner of the page.

Replying to a message in Discussions

  1. Click on the Topic where you want to reply to a message.
  2. Locate the message you want to reply to.
  3. Do one of the following:
    • Grid Style - click the subject of the message you want to reply to, and then click Reply at the top of the message.
    • Reading Style - click the Reply link below the header of the message you want to reply to.
  5. Type your reply in the Message field. To include the original message’s text in your reply, click the Add Original Message Text link.
  6. Set any other message options you want. (These options may not be available, depending on the course and the topic.)
    To Do this

    Attach a file

    		In the Attachments area, click Add a File and locate the file you want to attach. You can attach as many files as you want.
    Make the message anonymous Select Author anonymously, if available.
  7. Click Post.

Searching for messages in Discussions

  1. Enter the topic you want to search.
  2. If the Search For field is not visible at the top of the message list, click Show Search at the top of the page.
  3. Enter the terms you want to find in the Search For field and click Search.
  4. To perform an advanced search:
    1. Click the Show Search Options link to the right of the Search button.
    2. Specify additional search criteria from the options displayed beneath the Search For field.
    3. Click the Search button.

To see all messages again, click Clear Search at the top or bottom of the message list.

 

Grid Style vs Reading Style Usage Tips:

  • Use the discussion topic settings to switch between Grid style and Reading style.
  • The grid style is more useful for seeing the context of posts within a thread to quickly detect who has replied to who.
  • The grid style is more useful to find posts to which you haven’t replied. Unread posts are shown in bold text so a quick visual scan can detect which are new within the thread.
  • The reading style is useful for seeing all the messages and replies within a thread at one time. It is easier to trace the main themes of the posts and replies since all the text of each is shown. In contrast, in the grid style view, each post and reply is opened and viewed one-by-one.  (Courtesy of Portland State University)

Back to top

​