Moderating the Discussion Board - Threads and Replies
Learning Technologies > Blackboard > Faculty > Moderating the Discussion Board.
Threads and Replies
Threads
Threads further divide a forum into specific topics or ideas to which board readers may respond. If you read a thread about something which you would like to address, it is usually best practice to respond with a reply post rather than create a new thread. Doing so will help keep the forum organized and easy to follow. However, if you want to discuss something that is unrelated and will likely lead people off-topic, then you should start a new thread.
- By default, threads can be started by instructors and students (to prevent students from making new threads, see Creating a Forum)
- Go to the discussion board (either the class or group one) and pick an appropriate forum to start a thread in.
- Click on +Thread.
- Enter a thread title at Subject.
- Fill out the Message textbox.
- If you would like to attach a file, click on Attach a file. Only one file may be attached per thread or reply.
- Click Submit to publish your thread or reply.
Replies
Replies are posts made by board readers in response to the main thread post, which is also the first post. It is usually best practice to reply if your idea is on-topic with the rest of the thread. Think of threads as face-to-face conversations and if what you are about to say does not fit in or will create a new conversation altogether, start a new thread.
- At the forums, click on a thread title to view the ongoing discussion.
- To respond, click on the Reply button. The process for replying to posts is very similar to the one for creating threads (detailed above).
Note: clicking the reply button at the top (next to Thread: thread name) will respond to the thread and clicking the one at the bottom (next to Subject: subject name) will respond to that particular post. While both replies will show up in the same thread, this will affect which post is going to be the parent post and thus how the thread will be structured in Tree View.