Discussion Tool

The Blackboard Vista's discussion tool provides asynchronous communication in an online course. This means that you, your classmates and/or instructor can post new messages and reply to existing messages at any time. This tool does not require you to be online at the same time as your classmates and/or instructor.

Tip: In fully-online courses each weekly module has its own discussion area.

View Interactive Discussion Tutorial

Using Discussion

You can access the discussion tool in one of two ways:

Method I

1. Click the "Discussions" link from the course toolbar on the left.

2. This will open the main discussion area for the entire course, listing all available discussion topics for each week:

3. Click on the discussion topic for the corresponding week to read and post messages.

Method II

1. Click the name of the weekly learning module from the course home page, then click the discussion link (if available) in the Table of Contents for that module:

To start a new discussion thread (message)

1. Click the "Create Message" button.
2. Type the subject and message text in the textboxes provided and click "Post."

Note: By default, Blackboard Vista will display only 10 discussion messages per page. If you cannot see your message after you posted it, most likely your message is appearing on the next page.

To view all posted messages on the same page

1. Click the drop-down menu next to where it says "Page:" at the bottom right hand corner of the discussion screen:

2. Select "All" from the list then click the green go arrow to proceed.

To reply to an existing message

1. Click on the existing message subject to open it.
2. Click "Reply" button at the bottom of the message text.

To post attachments

1. Create a new message or reply to an existing message. Type the subject and text of your message in the textboxes provided.
2. At the bottom of the message box, click the "Add Attachments" button:

3. A new window will open. Wait for all items in this window to fully load, then click the "My Computer" icon on the left:

4. Find the file you want to attach on your computer and double-click it.

5. You will see the progress bar at the top showing the file being attached. When the progress bar and the window disappear, you will see your attachment appear under the "Add Attachments" button:

To view discussion message attachments

1. Open a message that contains an attachment, then click on the attachment file name.
2. You will get a prompt to save or open the file. Select "Save" and save it some place on your computer where you can easily find it.
3. Double-click the file from the location where you saved it on your computer to view its contents.

To spell-check and/or format your message text

1. Create a new message or reply to an existing message. At the top of the message textbox, click "Enable HTML Creator" button to turn on the formatting toolbar.

Note: The HTML Creator feature is available in all browsers on PC, but only in Safari browser on the Mac.

2. Wait for the formatting toolbar to fully load, then copy and paste or type your text into the box and use the buttons on the toolbar above to format it.

3. The HTML Creator has a built-in spell check and will automatically underline misspelled words in red. Right-click (or Control-click if using a Mac) on the underlined word to view spelling suggestions and correct as needed.

If you experience problems, please refer to the troubleshooting tips.