Using WebBoard. 1. Establishing your WebBoard Account / Logging in to WebBoard

Transcription

1 Using WebBoard 1. Establishing your WebBoard Account / Logging in to WebBoard If you are a new user of WebBoard, click New Users at the WebBoard login screen. In the future, after you establish your WebBoard account, simply access the WebBoard login screen, enter your login name and password, and click Enter. 1. Once you click New Users, you will see the screen illustrated below. 2. Enter your information into the boxes. 3. Keep the Use Frames setting on Yes. 4. After completing your profile, click Create. 5. Once you have completed your profile, you will enter WebBoard. The red dot indicates information that must be provided. Providing the information not marked with a dot is optional. Remember your login name and password! 1

2 2. Understanding WebBoard Conferences The titles of WebBoard conferences are displayed on the left side of the WebBoard screen. The right side of the WebBoard screen is where messages are displayed. A plus sign (+) next to a conference title indicates that the conference can be expanded to reveal topics listed under that conference. Clicking the plus sign next to the conference title expands the conference to show the titles of topics under it. Clicking the plus sign next to Discussion of the Stories for Essay 2 reveals a list of three topics. The plus sign next to each topic title means that messages have been posted for the topic. In this example, clicking the plus sign next to the topic Updike s A & P reveals a list of messages. Notice that each message has the same title. WebBoard automatically names messages posted under a particular topic, and the message title is the same as the topic title. Next to each message title is the name of the person who posted the message. The minus signs (-) indicate that the view of the conference or topic has been fully expanded. Clicking the plus signs and minus signs of conferences and topics expands or compresses the list of topics or messages, but it does not allow you to read the messages that have been posted. 2

3 3. Reading WebBoard Messages As explained above, clicking the plus sign next to a topic title expands the topic to reveal a list of messages. However, clicking the title of the topic, not the plus sign or the name of the person who posted the topic, allows you to access and read the messages posted under that particular topic. Clicking the topic Updike s A & P (illustrated at right) reveals all of the messages posted under that topic, as illustrated below. The messages appear on the right side of the screen. Again, when you click a topic title, all of the messages posted under that topic will open in the right screen. On your screen, you will see the first message posted under that topic, and perhaps an additional message or two. To view more messages that have been posted under the topic title, use the scroll bar (at the far right of the WebBoard screen and at the far right of the illustration above). Notice that each message includes the topic title and conference title under which the message was posted, the message number and total number of messages under the particular topic, the name of the person who posted the message, and the date and time when the message was posted. 3

4 3. Reading WebBoard Messages, cont. If you were to click on a message title within the list of messages (illustrated at right), only that message and any replies to it would open on the right side of the WebBoard screen. For example, clicking Jamie s message title would open up both Jamie s message and Paula s reply to Jamie s message, as illustrated below. Clicking the title of the topic allows you to read all of the messages posted under that topic, but you can also click the plus sign next to a topic title, expand the list of messages under that topic, and then go directly to a specific message (illustrated at left). Notice that the message titles (all Updike s A & P ) are not lined up evenly. This is because some of the messages were written as replies to the original questions posted by the instructor, while others were posted as replies to messages written by other students. Those message titles that begin farthest to the left (including a message by Debra, by Andy, and by David) are in response to the original message. A message title that begins a little to the right indicates a comment in response to an earlier message by another student. 4

5 3. Reading WebBoard Messages, cont. Sometimes, students write replies to the original topic posting, but they send their responses in the form of replies to specific messages from other students. The messages still get posted under the correct topic title, but they appear in the list of topic titles as if they are responses to other posted messages. In general, it s best to click on the first message with a particular topic title to view all messages posted under that topic. You can then scroll down through the messages and read different messages from other students or easily located a specific message from someone else. 4. Writing WebBoard Messages Writing and posting messages in WebBoard is not difficult, but you need to understand how to click the correct links to put your messages where you would like them to appear. Imagine that you click on the message title from Jamie under the topic Updike s A & P (illustrated at right). Paula has already responded to Jamie s message, so you would see the screen above, which includes both Jamie s comment and Paula s response to it. If you would like to respond to Paula s comment, simply click on Reply above Paula s message (illustrated by the cursor hand above). Once you click Reply, a screen will open in which you can write your response. 5

6 4. Writing WebBoard Messages, cont. Because you are responding to a message under an existing topic title, the title of the message is automatically inserted in the small Topic box near the top of the message screen. The larger box will be empty, and this is where you write your message. You can leave the boxes that you can check as they are, but check Attach file if you are planning to send a file attachment with your message. Once you have written your message, click the Post button to the right of the title box. (Do not click on the Post button that appears in the black bar on the upper left WebBoard screen.) Important: after you write your message and click Post, you will see a preview of your message, but your message has not yet been posted. The preview screen shows what your message will look like once it is posted and spell checks your message, highlighting misspelled words in red. You can click the word to correct it, or you can click your web browser's Back button to make the corrections. 6

7 4. Writing WebBoard Messages, cont. After you have previewed and proofread your message, click Post in the preview screen to post your message. Because the message was a response to Paula s comments on Jamie s message, under the list of messages for Updike s A & P, the message title will be indented farther to the right than both Jamie s and Paula s message titles. If you want to reply not to a message within a discussion thread but to the original questions that began the discussion, click on the topic title under Conferences. On the right side of your screen will appear the first message listed under this topic (illustrated below). If you click Reply above the first message for a topic, your message title will not be indented under other message titles. Instead, the title will have the same indentation as the titles of messages from other students who responded to the original message. In the example at the left, the indentation tells us that Debra clicked Reply to respond to the first topic message, which was posted by Randy, and Debra then clicked Reply above her own message when she added the next two comments. Clicking the correct Reply button helps others understand where messages should logically appear in the discussion thread, clarifying whose message you are replying to. 7

8 4. Writing WebBoard Messages, cont. You also have the Reply/Quote option, which gives you a message box with the original message you are responding to copied into the box. You have the option to Delete your message once it has been posted or to Edit, or make changes to, your message after posting it. The Post option is only for posting new topics under a conference, such as the Updike s A & P topic, posted under Discussion of Stories for Essay 2 conference. There is also a Post option on the black menu bar that runs across the top of the WebBoard screen (illustrated below). However, this button is only for posting new topics in conferences, not for replying to messages under existing topics. 5. Managing WebBoard Messages The number of messages in WebBoard can add up quickly. Therefore, managing your messages is important. You will need to manage your WebBoard messages by keeping track of new messages that have been added by other class members and the instructor and by marking messages read once you have read them. Just above the list of conferences on the left WebBoard screen, you will find a link to new messages and the number of new messages (illustrated at left). This number does not indicate messages that you have not read but indicates the number of messages that have been posted since you last marked all of your messages read (explained below). The word New appears next to the title of the conference in which new messages have been added. To read only new messages, simply click the New Messages link under Conferences. The heading on the left side of the screen will change from Conferences to New Messages, and you will see a screen listing the title(s) of the conference(s) containing the new messages. Notice that the New Messages screen presents only new messages and excludes all of the old messages and the conferences under which no new messages are posted. Clicking Conferences on the New Messages screen returns you to the list of all conferences and messages. 8

9 5. Managing WebBoard Messages, cont. Clicking the plus sign next to the title of the conference will expand the list of new topics and messages that have been posted under that conference. Remember that, under the New Messages screen, only new messages will be listed. Just click the message title to open that message in the right half of the WebBoard screen. Once you open the message, you can respond with your own message in the same way you would if you were viewing messages under the Conference heading. If you want to read older messages listed under a particular conference or topic name, click on Conferences to return to the list of all conferences and messages. It is especially important that you mark all of your new messages read after you have read them. Otherwise, the number of new messages may get so high that you will not be able to tell which messages you have and have not read. For example, seeing that there are 162 new messages will not do you much good if you have read some of the messages but have not read others. Using the Mark All Read option is an easy way to keep track of messages. To mark your messages read, start by clicking on the Mark All Read button on the black menu that runs across the top of the WebBoard screen (above). You will see a list of conferences and the number of new messages listed under each conference (below). If you have read all new messages, you should click on Mark All Conferences Read. 9

10 5. Managing WebBoard Messages, cont. You can also choose to mark as read only those messages in a particular conference. After clicking Mark All Conferences Read, you will see the screen below, indicating that all messages have been marked read. Under the Conference list on the left side of the WebBoard screen, you will see that there are now 0 New Messages. The next time you log in to WebBoard, it will be easy for you to identify and read any new messages that have been posted. Just click New Messages to view them, and then Mark All Read after you have read them. WebBoard checks for and lists new messages when you log in. However, WebBoard may not accurately list new messages that have been posted while you are working in WebBoard, and it may not list your own message immediately after you post it. To see any new messages that have been posted while you are logged in to WebBoard, including your own, you can click the Refresh button on the black menu bar that runs across the top of the WebBoard screen. Do not click the Refresh or Reload button of your web browser. 6. Public and Private (Closed) Conferences Conferences in WebBoard can be public, meaning that they are accessible to all members of the class. Conferences can also be private or closed, meaning that access to those conferences is restricted to selected members of the class. Your instructor might set up a private conference area just for you, a conference area appearing only on your and the instructor's WebBoard screen. In this case, your private conference area will not even appear on the list of conferences that other members of the class see. 10

11 6. Public and Private (Closed) Conferences, cont. Most likely, the majority of conferences in a class using WebBoard will be public, accessible to all members of the class, but your instructor may also set up private conference areas. Conferences are not marked public or private, but your instructor will indicate to you any conferences that are private. In the illustration above, the instructor has set up a private conference area for Lisa Simpson, a student in the class. The conference is not marked private, but the conference area titled "Lisa Simpson" will appear only on Lisa s and the instructor s WebBoard screen, and only Lisa and the instructor have access to messages posted there. All of the conference areas in the illustration above are public, open to all students in the class. Every student in the class would see the same list of conferences above. Private conference areas might be included in the list above, but they will appear only on the WebBoard screens of students given access by the instructor to those private conference areas. If your instructor uses WebBoard for class discussions, you most likely will post most of your messages to public conference areas so that other members of the class can read your messages, but it is important that you post your work to a private conference area when the assignment requires you to do so. For example, if you have a test to complete and post to your private conference area, mistakenly posting the test to a public conference area will result in your test answers being accessible to all other members of the class. Conversely, if a message intended for a public conference area is mistakenly posted to a private conference area, no other students in the class will be able to read the posted message. This document prepared by Randy Rambo, English Instructor Illinois Valley Community College, Oglesby, Illinois 11