What makes a good forum post

It can enhance communication between you, your peers, and your instructors when used in conjunction with traditional on-campus courses and provide a forum for discussion in fully online courses. On this page, Online discussions overview All about forums Different ways to view a forum All about threads Creating a new thread Inside thread details Replying to a thread and post How to include a quote in a reply Editing and deleting discussion posts Organizing discussion board posts Discussion board best practices.

During your course, you may be asked to use the Discussion Board to introduce yourself, to respond to instructor questions and reply to others, to formulate answers to case studies, or as part of a peer writing and review process.

You may even be asked to lead a discussion. You are also able to view the responses and perspectives of all your classmates, which is not easily accomplished in a real classroom setting. Depending on the settings in your individual courses, you can access the Discussion Board through the Course Menu or as a Course Link inside a Learning Module or on a content page that leads to the Discussion Board. You can identify Discussion Forums by the icon located to the left of their titles. The main Discussion Board page displays a list of available discussion Forums.

A Discussion Board can contain one or more Forums. A Forum is an area where a topic or a group of related topics are discussed. For each Forum, the page displays the total number of posts, the number of unread posts, and the total number of participants.

Click on the Forum Name to enter it so that you can read the posts and make posts of your own. Click the Unread Posts to collect all the unread posts into a sortable format. Back to Top. A forum can be viewed in one of two contexts: Tree View or List View. This choice remains in effect until you change it and it can be changed at any time.

These choices are available at the top of the Forum page. The List View presents the list of posts in the forum, called Threads , in a tabular format.

The Tree View presents the first post, or Thread, and all related responses. Unread Threads and posts are displayed in bold type. Additionally, if a Thread has unread responses, then the entire Thread is displayed in bold when collapsed in Tree View. To enter a Thread to review related responses, click on the Thread name. If your instructor allows, you can create a new Thread by clicking Create Thread. To manage which Threads you see, select an option from the Display action menu. In the list view, threads appear in a Thread Table and can be sorted using the criteria in the table below.

You can use the Select All check box in the header of the thread table to select all of the threads in the table. Written by Heather Russino. Do your homework. Wake up your classmates with a strong argument or perspective. Be relevant. Bring something unique to the post. Prepare your response in a text editor before you post. Leave participants wanting more. Subscribe to the Thomas Edison State University Blog and get the latest updates delivered straight to your inbox.

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Thank others for commenting on your discussion and help with moderation if things get heated. Creating great forum posts helps to ensure quality discussion and better engagement.

If you are a member of a community and you want it to be vibrant and a great place for others, the above rules will ensure it's a great experience for everyone. What are your tips for great forum posts? Did we miss any? Community Marketing. Community Strategy. Send us an email to pr vanillaforums. Why Vanilla Why Community?