In discussions, you can share thoughts and ideas about class materials. In Blackboard Learn, course members can have the thoughtful discussions that take place in the traditional classroom, but with the advantages of asynchronous communication. Participants don't need to be in the same location or time zone, and you can take the time to consider your responses carefully.

Overview of discussions

This video provides an overview of the discussion board interface.

Forums and threads

A forum is an area of the discussion board where participants discuss a topic or a group of related topics. Within each forum, users can create multiple threads. When your instructor creates a forum, they may or may not let you start threads.

Visit this page for an overview on the layout of a forum, how to subscribe to a forum and how to view a forum.

Threads are created on a forum by the lecturer (or students if allowed by the lecturer). Threads are conversations on a specific topic. You will have to navigate the thread page to post a discussion reply or create a new thread (if allowed by your lecturer).

Manage discussions

Some discussion forums are quite active and to save time it becomes necessary to manage them. Another time saving mechanism is to search and collect your posts.

View discussion grades

If your lecturer is grading your discussion post, you can view your marks on the My Grades page.