Forum Organization

The forum is organized in a hierarchal system. This facilitates organization of the forum as a whole and helps to keep disorganization from developing. It is important to learn the levels of organization in the forum: Forum, Discussions, Topics and Threads.

To start setting up a forum for an OIS class, first open the Forum Client Software by clicking the icon (Fig 1.1) Once in the Forum Client, choose the OIS class you wish to install the Forum in by using the drop-down menu to select it (Fig 1.2). If no Forum has ever been set up for this OIS Class then a message will appear prompting you to enter the initial configuration for the forum. Next, the Forum Properties window will appear. In this window you should type the Title of the Forum and the Description; in addition, make sure to select the instructor of the class as the default username (Fig 1.3). You may wish to change other options located under the “Options” and “Advanced” tabs; see the Properties Reference section for more information on these forum options. Press OK when you are done editing the Forum Properties. The new forum will now be created, and you will be presented with a screen much like in Figure 1.4.

You will notice the Forum Client window is divided into three tabs: the Content tab, the Browser tab and the Statistics tab.

Content Tab

The content tab consists of a panel on the left, which provides a visual representation of your current forums, discussions, topics and threads. The panel on the right gives more information about each item you select on the left and often allows you to make new items or edit existing ones.

Browser Tab

The browser tab is used to quickly “preview” a forum. When you click on the browser tab you will be presented with a dialog box asking you which student whom you would like to “login as”. It is often useful to login as a particular student to test forum behaviors, such as permissions. Select the student you would like to login as and click OK. Then simply browse the bulletin board as if you were in a normal web browser. See the Student’s Browser View section for more information on this.

Creating a New Discussion – Discussion Properties

Once a forum is created the next step is to create a discussion. To create a discussion, go to the Content tab, and then click on the icon in the left pane for the forum you created previously. The right pane will then display two buttons Edit and New Discussion; click on New Discussion (Fig 2.1). The Discussion Properties window (Fig 2.2) will now appear. Fill in the Title for this new topic and other fields as you feel necessary, and then see the Properties Reference for more information on these fields. When you are done, click OK to finish creating the new topic.

Creating a New Topic – Topic Properties

Creating a new topic is done in much the same way as creating a new discussion. Just click on a discussion to show the right-pane for a discussion, and then click on the New Topic button to add a new topic. This will show the Topic Properties window. Fill out the desired Topic Properties and click the OK button.

Adding Messages to a Topic – Message Properties

One level below topics is threads and posts. Although instructors usually create posts it is possible for them to create threads as well. To make a new post in a topic, click on a topic in the left pane, and then click the New Post button in the right pane. You may then select whom you wish this message to be from. It is possible to post messages which appear to be from any student you wish, although it is recommend you always post messages with the default (instructor) username. The subject and text of the message should be typed in the “Add message to topic” window and OK should be pressed when done (Fig 3.1).
 

Figure 3.1 – Adding a message to a topic

Go on to Step 9.

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