Forums: Responding to Conversations and
Participating in Threaded Discussions
After you have completed your response to the questions, you will respond to the threaded discussion initiated by 2 other students. Like your initial post, your response need to demonstrate your understanding of the course content provided in the Module – Learning Resources or other independent research that you do and demonstrate your understanding of the content by adding something of substance to the conversation.
Often when you post your initial thread other students willhave already completed their initial post and the screen will look like this:
Click on a student whose message looks interesting (hopefully others have used interesting titles so that you’ll have an idea of what they are discussing). In any event, click on the thread that looks interesting. The screen will look something like the one below (only with greater written information).
Here, one student began a thread she titled Poverty. Following that, another student responded. This is known as a threaded discussion. Notice that the response is also discussing course content.
If 2 students have already posted a response, move on and find another student who does not have 2 responses. By doing this you will insure that all student posts will initiate a discussion. To respond, click on the Reply tab on the right.
You may find that you may want to read responses other than the two that you will respond to. These discussions give you a broader understanding of the course content. After you have read a posting, click on the small envelope to the right of the title; it will disappear. This will tell you that you have read this post. In this manner it becomes easy to tell at a glance what you have not read.
Keep in mind that when you respond to others your response needs to demonstrate your understanding of the course content. Brief comments will lose points. “I really enjoyed what you said” or “I agree”, etc. are not acceptable and will lose points. You must add to the discussion in a substantive way in all you posts.
Remember to use the textbox for all that you write to avoid HTML tags. And, if they occur you need to take them out (see in instructions for Initial Post).
I suspect that participating in this type of assignment will take a couple of tries for you to get the hang of it. Keep at it; you’ll find yourself learning from your fellow students and enjoying the process. Refer to the instructions here and elsewhere on Laulima, or post a question to the Questions about Assignments.