Introductory Activity for Threaded Discussion

Using a “Bulletin Board” in WebCT

by Prof. Cross, LBST 499, Spring 2002

Threaded discussions provide the ability to organize messages for a group of participants who are interacting about a pre-arranged topic. Postings are hierarchically organized by the software under the control of each participant.

Participation may be open to all, restricted to a selected group of participants, by invitation, or by self-chosen enrollment. Anonymous postings may be enabled or disabled. Attachments and hyperlinks are possible. For this practice session, think of things to say about IT at IUP.

Your task is to become familiar with the basic features of this IT for implementing a “computer conference”. Try each of the following features and verify that you understand the technology.

q Start a new thread.

q Post a reply to an existing thread.

q Post a reply to a reply.

q Insert a URL in a posting.

q Attach something to a posting.

q Post something anonymously.