The Forums tab allows for easy communication with your instructor and other students. To access the Forums, select Forums in the Connect tab on the Navigation Menu.

There are three types of forums:

• Discussion Question,
• Private Forum, and
• Questions to Instructor Forum.

After you click on a DQ, you will be able to see the content of the question. To submit an answer to the prompt, click Add a Post. Many courses require the use of a reference in conjunction with a reply. Please note, you will not be able to indent your reference in APA format in your post.

Once you have typed your response, you may either click Post Reply, Save as a Draft, or Cancel. When you save your post as a draft, it is only visible to you. It will be available for you to edit for the next 24 hours.

Post Icons

You can determine if a post was made by your instructor, if it has been graded, or if it was marked as substantive by the following icons:

 Post was made by instructor

 Post has been marked as substantive

 Post has been graded

Tracking Participation

To track how many responses or posts you have made for your discussion questions, begin by selecting Connect from the Navigation Menu.

Then, select Forums.

By default, you will be taken to the Discussion Question forum. Here it will provide you with a list of all your discussion questions for the course. In the My Posts column, it will provide you with the number of posts and responses made for each discussion question.

Deleting Posts

Once you post a reply for a discussion question, you will have the options to Edit or Delete your post. You will not be able to edit or delete your post if:

• Your post has been graded by the instructor
• Your post has been marked as substantive
• A student or instructor has replied to your post
• The post was made over 24 hours prior

The Private Forum allows for private communication between yourself and the instructor or a classmate. You may ask questions in the Private Forum that you wish for only the instructor to see.

To initiate a discussion with an instructor or classmate, click New Topic in the upper right-hand corner.

After selecting the student or staff you would like to contact, you must enter a Title and Description; if desired, you may attach a file to your message. To send the message, click Submit.

You may Edit or Delete a topic if it has not been replied to.

The Questions to Instructor Forum allows for class-wide communication. Topics in this forum are visible to all instructors and students in the class.

To initiate a discussion, click New Topic in the upper right-hand corner.

You must enter a Title and Description; if desired, you may attach a file to your message. To send the message, click Submit.

You may also Edit or Delete a topic if it has not been replied to.