Contributing to Class Discussions

Discussions Links to an external site. provide an area to share meaningful contributions to online discussions with your classmates and instructor. 

• Filter & Search - Discussions can be filtered by read/unread and/or searched by key phrases.
• Pinned & Closed for Comments - Instructors may choose to pin specific discussions or close discussions (making them read-only).

Netiquette & online discussions

Communicating appropriately in the online classroom can be challenging. In order to minimize this challenge, it is important to remember several points of netiquette or “internet etiquette” that will smooth communication for both students and instructors:

• Read first, write later. Read the entire set of posts/comments on a discussion board before posting your reply, in order to prevent repeating commentary or asking questions that have already been answered.
• Avoid language that may come across as strong or offensive. Language can be easily misinterpreted in written electronic communication. Therefore, please review email and discussion board posts before submitting to assess the tone. For example, humor and sarcasm may be easily misinterpreted, so they may be best to avoid. Also, do not write using all capital letters because it can be interpreted as yelling.