MyUni - Discussion Boards, Blogs, Wikis & Journals

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1 - Discussion Boards, Blogs, Wikis & Journals Discussion Boards... 2 Create a discussion board forum... 2 Discussion Board Threads... 2 Create a thread... 2 Reply to a thread... 2 Forum settings... 3 Edit forum settings... 4 Managing forum users... 4 Manage forum user roles... 4 Grading discussion board content... 5 Grade entries in a discussion board forum... 5 Blogs... 7 Create a Blog... 7 Journals... 8 Create a Journal... 8 Wikis... 9 About Wikis... 9 Creating a Wiki... 9 Group Wikis... 9 Create a Wiki... 9 Giving students access to Forums, Blogs, Journals or Wikis Add a tool link to the Course Menu Add a link to a discussion board, blog, journal or wiki Date: 18 December 2013 TRIM Reference: D2013/ Version: 1 Copyright Technology Services -

2 Discussion Boards Discussion boards enable you to establish communication within your course and allow for collaborative learning. They can be used as part of assessment and are ideal for introductions and social exchange, developing critical thought, exchanging ideas, brainstorming and reflective learning. Some discussion boards will be used by all students of a course. Others might be accessed by a subset of students, such as participants in one tutorial group, or students working on a joint project (using the Group feature of MyUni to determine who has access). Instructors can choose who is able to create threads and post messages, and whether messages may be added anonymously. Create a discussion board forum 1. Select Control Panel > Course Tools > Discussion Board. 2. The Discussion Board page lists every discussion board in the course, including those that are specific to groups. Click a Discussion Board name to access the forums. 3. Forums are made up of individual discussion threads that can be organised around a particular subject. Create Forums to organise discussions. Click Create Forum. 4. In the Forum Information section, enter a name and brief description for your forum, for example Questions & Answers, which allows students and staff to post questions and answers about the course content. 5. In the Forum Availability section, decide whether to permit users to view the content, and include a date restriction if required. 6. In the Forum Settings section, determine what you will allow users to do in the forum and whether to grade the forum. 7. Click Submit. Discussion Board Threads Create a thread 1. From the Discussion Board page, click the title of the forum link, eg Questions & Answers 2. Click Create Thread. 3. In the Message section, enter a subject and the text of your message. Files, links and images can be added by using the Text Editor. 4. Click Submit. Reply to a thread 1. From the Course Menu, click Discussion Board. 2. From the Discussion Board page, click the title of the forum link, eg Questions & Answers December 2013 The University of Adelaide

3 3. From the Forum page, click the thread link that you want to respond to. 4. Click Reply. 5. In the Message section, type a reply. Files, links and images can be added by using the Text Editor. 6. Click Submit. Forum settings The following table describes the options that are available to instructors: Forum setting Allow Anonymous Posts Allow Author to Delete Own Posts Allow Author to Edit Own Published Posts Allow Post Tagging Allow Users to Reply with Quote Allow File Attachments Allow Members to Create New Threads Subscribe Allow Members to Rate Posts Description Users can post to the forum without revealing their usernames. If forums allow anonymous posts, they cannot be graded. Users can delete either all their own posts, or only posts without replies. Deleted posts cannot be recovered. Students can make changes to their own messages. No record of the original post is kept. Tagging is a way to add metadata to posts to make them easier to retrieve in searches. To tag items in a forum, first select them and then click Collect. For faster Discussion Board page loading, do not allow Post Tagging. This setting is enabled by default. When users click Quote, the message to which they are replying is included in the post. This setting is enabled by default. Attaching large files will slow down the Discussion Board. This setting is enabled by default. If threads are marked, members cannot create new threads and members cannot post anonymously. Users can subscribe to a forum or a specific thread within a forum. When a new post or reply is added to a forum or thread, the subscriber receives an message. Once a subscription option is selected, users can select: o Include body of Post in the The entire post is sent in the body of the message. o Include link to post: A link to the post is sent in the body of the message. Students can rate the quality of the post using a five-star system. The University of Adelaide 18 December

4 Forum setting Force Moderation of Posts Grade Description This requires all messages to be reviewed by a moderator before they can be published to the forum. The instructor is the manager of the forum and can moderate all posts. Others can be assigned the role of moderator to determine if posts are published to the forum or returned to the author for editing. Users' posts can be marked in 2 different ways as discussed in the Grading discussion board content section below. Edit forum settings 1. Navigate the forum and click next to the forum title. 2. Choose Edit from the drop-down menu. 3. Select required options as described in table above. 4. Click Submit. Managing forum users An instructor is automatically a forum manager and students are participants by default. You can change forum roles for individuals if desired. Forum roles include: Blocked User - has no access to the forum Builder - can edit content but does not have access to the Grade Centre and cannot remove forums from the discussion board. Manager - the default role for instructors, who have full control over the forum. Marker - able to enter grades. Moderator - can moderate posts before they are published. Participant - the default role for students. Reader - can read messages but not post to the forum. Manage forum user roles 1. Navigate the forum, hover your mouse over the forum and click next to the forum title. 2. Choose Manage from the drop-down menu. 3. Hover your mouse over the user s last name and click. Select the appropriate role for that user. 4. Repeat as required for other users. 5. Click OK December 2013 The University of Adelaide

5 Grading discussion board content Instructors can grade a discussion board. Users' posts can be marked in 2 different ways: Users can have their overall participation in a forum graded. This option creates a column in the Grade Centre and requires the instructor to enter the maximum points possible within the forum settings. Users can be graded on a thread-by-thread basis. This option creates a column in the Grade Centre when the discussion board manager creates the thread. If threads are marked, members cannot create new threads. Grade entries in a discussion board forum 1. Create the a discussion board forum or edit the settings for an existing forum by hovering your mouse over the forum and clicking the forum (as shown below) and choosing Edit. next to 2. In the Forum Settings section, select the Grade option of Grade Discussion Forum: Points possible. Enter the maximum marks possible for student participation in the forum. 3. Decide how many posts are required from a student before you will see a "needs grading" status (optional). 4. Click Submit. 5. To grade the forum, navigate to the Discussion Board page and hover and choose Grade from the drop- your mouse on the forum. Click down menu. 6. Click Grade in the row for the student whose mark you wish to enter. 7. All of the user s posts to the forum are displayed. Click in the Grade field, on the right hand side of the page, to enter a mark for the forum. The University of Adelaide 18 December

6 8. Enter Feedback, which the student will see, and click Add Notes, which only instructors can see (both are optional). 9. Click Save Grade. 10. To grade the next student, use the downward chevron under the current student s name, select Show All and select the next student. Students for whom marking is required are indicated by the icon. 11. Scroll down to the bottom right corner and click OK when marking is complete December 2013 The University of Adelaide

7 Blogs Blogs are an open communications tool for students to share their thoughts. A blog consists of: Blog Entries: Text, images, links, multimedia, mash-ups and attachments posted by students and open for comments. Comments: Remarks or responses to blog entries made by others. Users can delete comments, if the instructor allows. There are three different types of Blog: Course Blogs: All enrolled users are able to post blog entries. All enrolled users can post comments to blog entries. Individual Blogs: Only the owner of the blog is able to post blog entries. All other users enrolled in the course are able to view and add comments. Group Blogs: If the Instructor enables the blog tool for the group, all group members can post blog entries and make comments on blog entries. Any course member can view group blogs, but can only add comments. Create a Blog 1. From the Control Panel, in the Course Tools section, select Blogs. 2. Select Create Blog. 3. In the Blog Information section, type a Name and optional Instructions. 4. Select Yes to make the Blog Available. 5. In the Blog Date and Time Restrictions section, select whether you wish to have any time restrictions (optional). 6. In the Blog Participation section, select Course. This creates a course blog that allows all users to post blog entries and comments. OR In the Blog Participation section, select Individual to All Students. This creates an individual blog for each user to create blog entries on their own blog and view other users blogs. Only comments can be added to other users blogs. 7. In the Blog Settings section, select how entries are organised and whether users can edit and delete posts. 8. In the Grade Settings section, select whether you are going to grade users' participation on the blog. 9. Click Submit. Note: The Instructor can edit and delete entries in any of the three Blog types and delete any user comments. The University of Adelaide 18 December

8 Journals A journal is self-reflective tool for students. Only the student and the instructor are able to add comments to journal entries. However, journals can be made public by the instructor, so that all enrolled users can read all entries made to the journal topic. Group journal entries can be read by all group members and the instructor. A Journal consists of: Journal Entries: Text, images, links, multimedia, mash-ups and attachments posted by individual Students. Comments: Remarks or responses to a journal entry made by the instructor. The student can also add a comment to his or her journal entry. Create a Journal 1. From the Control Panel, in the Course Tools section, select Journals. 2. Select Create Journal. 3. In the Journal Information section, type a Name and optional Instructions. 4. Select Yes to make the Journal Available. 5. In the Journal Date and Time Restrictions section, select whether you wish to have any time restrictions (optional). 6. In the Journal Settings section, select how entries are organised and whether users can edit and delete posts and whether other users can view the journal. 7. In the Grade Settings section, select whether you are going to grade users journal. 8. Click Submit December 2013 The University of Adelaide

9 Wikis About Wikis Wikis are used to create a collaborative space within the course where all students can view, contribute and edit content. Wikis can also be used as a resource for students to view information and content relevant to their courses. Creating a Wiki Course Wikis are created by the instructor and any course member can add pages, unless the instructor intends to be the sole author and use the Wiki as course content. Group Wikis Group Wikis are enabled by the instructor and can be read by all course members, but a user must be a member of the group to edit a page or make a comment on a group wiki page. The instructor can change the default setting to allow only group members to view a group wiki. Create a Wiki 1. From the Control Panel, in the Course Tools section, select Wikis. 2. Select Create Wiki. 3. In the Wiki Information section, type a Name and optional Instructions. 4. In the Wiki Date and Time Restrictions section, select Yes to make the Wiki Available. Select whether you wish to have any time restrictions (optional). 5. In the Wiki Participation section, select Open to Editing and Open to Commenting, if necessary. Note: At a later time, you can Close the Editing and/or Commenting so that the Wiki becomes an unchangeable item. 6. In the Wiki Settings section, select whether you are going to grade users participation in the wiki. 7. Click Submit. The University of Adelaide 18 December

10 Giving students access to Forums, Blogs, Journals or Wikis To give students access to any of the MyUni tools, you need to provide them with a link to it. You can do this either by linking to the tool via any content page and/or by providing a link on the course menu. Add a tool link to the Course Menu 1. In a course you are teaching, click in the top left corner of the Course Menu. 2. Click Tool Link. 3. In the Name field, type a name for your tool, such as Discussion Board, Blogs, Journals or Wikis. 4. Choose the type of tool from the drop-down menu, either Discussion Board, Blogs, Journals or Wikis. 5. Tick the box, Available to user, to make the tool visible to users. 6. Click Submit. Add a link to a discussion board, blog, journal or wiki 1. Navigate to the content area where you would like to place a link to a tool. 2. Select Tools > Discussion Board / Blogs / Journals / Wikis. You may now either link to the tool page, select an individual tool to link to, or create a new tool by clicking Create New Forum / Blog / Journal / Wiki. If you select either of the first 2 options, you must click Next to continue. 3. In the Link Information section, enter a name and brief description. 4. In the Options section, decide whether to permit users to view the content or to put in a date restriction. 5. Click Submit December 2013 The University of Adelaide