What is a Discussion Board?

What is an Introductory Discussion?

Generally, the first discussion forum students will participate in for each course is the Introductory Discussion, which reads as follows:

Please take a moment to introduce yourself, share some information about your education goals, career, family or anything you would like the class to know about you.  In addition, please read the course description located under the welcome banner for the course.  Please share with your peers and instructor your interest and general experience in this field of study.  What do you bring to the course? What would you like to learn more about?

Students and instructors may choose to reply to this initial post but are encouraged to read this submission as a launching point for future course discussions.

Files such as images and media maybe included in forum posts. The teacher can choose to grade and/or rate forum posts. Ratings can be aggregated to form a final grade which is recorded in the gradebook.

What is an Initial Post?

• Be Thorough.....this should be the most in-depth and substantive response to the prompt provided within your course. Typically, unless directed otherwise, this is written in paragraph form responding to the prompt in detail displaying your understanding of the material by sharing examples, connecting to experiences.  

• Be Factual.....students are required to properly cite at least one reference from your course materials or external sources to support your writing in APA format.

• Be Creative.....this should include consulting outside sources, sharing articles, multi-media and images to enhance  your message.  

• Be Engaging.......remember to treat discussion boards as a conversation rather than just another assignment. Consider ending prompt by providing 2-3 open-ended questions to prompt peer replies.