Course Orientation Discussion and Private Messages Tool.

Course Orientation

Discussion and Private Messages Tool

There are a variety of discussion tools available in Laulima (Discussions, Discussions and Private Messages, and Forums), this orientation focuses on the default tool for “Discussions and Private Messages”.

If the instructor has kept this tool as the main form of managing course discussions, click on the link in the Course Menu for “Discussion and Private Messages”.

Within Discussions and Private messages you can add an Avatar which is an image of yourself or a picture that represents you.

Once added this image will be attached to each of your postings and replies.

To set up your image, click on “My Profile”.

My Profile allows you to add textual information about you as well, only enter what you want others to view.

To add your image, click on the “Browse” button.

**Note: you need to already have a small image saved to your computer desktop at this time.

Click on the image file once to select and choose the “Open” button.

To complete the upload process click “Submit”.

Your image is now in place and ready to use.

The next time you respond or post a message this image will be attached to your response.

This tool is broken into Categories and Forums. Categories are groups of Forum(s) where a discussion can take place.

Your instructor can add categories and forums that are specific to course topics or activities.

In the orientation this area contains a Main and Other category and consists of Introductions, Module Activities, General Questions and a Student Lounge forum.

To enter a forum, click on the forum title.

Once inside a forum, check for posted messages, to view a message click on the message title OR click on the button for “New topic” to submit a new message.

All unread messages have a pinkish background.

One way to reply to a message is to click on the “Post Reply” button.

Type a reply directly into the editor.

If the reply is more than a few sentences it may be best to type the response in a word application and copy/paste text into the editor window.

Click “Submit” when done.

The posted message will be located under the last message in the forum.

The second way to reply to a message is to click on the “Quote” button.

Click and type your response ABOVE or BELOW the [quote=xxxxxx] area and click “Submit” when done.

Submitting a response using the “Quote” option will place the message UNDER the original quoted message instead of at the bottom of the message list.

To help manage your discussions so you can keep track of messages that have been read, AFTER reviewing a message click on the “Mark Topic as Read” text link which can be found at the TOP or BOTTOM of the messages list.

Marking a topic as read will change the pinkish background of the message to white and zero out the “unread” message counter located in the main discussions area.

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Discussions and Private Messages Tool