The same applies to the Online Bulletin Board. All students and teachers in the same Unit/Module can read the Bulletins that are psted there.

As well as posting a Bulletin you can also read or reply to messages that that have already been posted. Your replies are then also available for all to see.

When you click on the Bulletins icon (shown above) you get a page like this. Note how the Title bar in the browser alerts you to the fact that you are in the Bulletin Board.

The Bulletin Board page is similar to the Mail page so keep an eye on the `Browser Title bar' at the top of the screen to make sure you are in the right place.

There are two ways in which you can add a message to a Bulletin Board. The first is to compose a new message. The other way is to reply to a message that has already been posted. When you reply to a message your reply and the original message are threaded. Other people might reply to your reply and the thread will grow.

Online Bulletin Boards are sometimes called threaded discussions.

Replying to a message on the Bulletin Board

When you are reading a message on the Bulletin Board you are given four options on what to do with that message.

Navigating through the Bulletin Board messages

At the top and bottom of each message you have a range of options that allow you to navigate through the messages.

The Next In Thread and Previous In Thread functions allow you follow the replies that have been made to a particular topic.

Using the Next Thread and Previous Thread functions you can move from one topic to another within the Bulletin Board.

Posting a new message to the Bulletin Board

To post a new message (or start a new thread) click on the Compose button in the tool panel of the Bulletin Board.

You can attach another file to the Bulletin Board message by clicking on the Attach button. When you do this you will be asked to choose which attachments to add. You can browse your hard disk for the file to add by clicking on the Attach and then Browse buttons or select a file that is listed in the Attach window. The types of files that you can attach include word processing documents, text files, graphics files, spreadsheet files or any other file type that can be attached to an email. You can use this feature to share information with your fellow students and your teacher.

Using the Bulletin Board Functions Panel

By default the Bulletin Board shows you only the messages that you have not read. These are marked with a New symbol. If you want to see all of the messages you need to select the Show All function in the tool panel. This will display all the messages in a threaded pattern.

The first message in a thread is on the left side of the message window. Each reply is indented by one tab. If you would like to remove all new messages from the initial message panel you can use the Catch Up All function to turn all messages into "read messages". Be careful when doing this as it cannot be undone and you may not have read messages that are important. If you do Catch Up All and then want to see the messages that you have not read, select Show All from the panel. If you would like to see if any new messages have been sent, click on the Update Listing button in the functions panel. This brings up any new messages that have been sent since you first came into the Bulletin Board.

Click on Forum. You will see a screen like this at the bottom of the Bulletin Board screen. All Bulletin Boards have two forums - the Main and the Notes forums. The Main forum is where general messages are stored. In the Notes forum messages are associated with specific pages in the learning in the unit/module learning materials.

In addition your teacher may have set up some forums in the Bulletin Board. A forum may be open to all participants in the unit/module or your teacher may have set up forums that are only accessible to groups of students. These forums are often set up for students to work together in groups on specific tasks or projects. If you are part of a private forum you can see the other members of the group who have access to that forum by clicking on the (Members) tag next to the forum name.

A forum is set up by your teacher so that messages are grouped together for a particular topic or activity. This makes easier for you to find messages about particular aspects of your course.

Some good practices when using Bulletins

• Look at the Bulletin Board regularly to keep up with new messages.
• Don't write long messages.
• If you want to submit a long message then attach it as a document.
• Use good manners when submitting a message.
• Don't use abusive language or insult people online.
• Don't post test messages.
• Wait until you have something to say.
• Think before you post a message in the same way you should think before you speak.
• You cannot remove a message from the Bulletin Board once it has been posted!
• Read current bulletins before asking a question.
• The answer may already be there.
• Avoid going into communication with just one person on a topic that has no relevance to others.
• Use Mail instead of cluttering up the Bulletin Board.