Ten Tips for Discussion Board Posting at Online Colleges

The key to success in online college is communication. There are several ways to communicate including email and discussion boards. Discussion boards allow the student to ask questions and post responses in a forum style discussion. These are ten tips that will help students when utilizing the discussion boards in online college.

1.) Check daily. Check frequently. The activity on discussion boards for online college is similar to a class room discussion. The dialog is constantly changing and it is important to keep up with the current events. Questions are answered and other questions are posted. At times, your professor will post a comment regarding a test or assignment that is due. Checking frequently will keep the student up-to-date on all current events.

2.) When asking a question, search previous discussion threads to see if it has been answered. Most often students will have the same or similar questions regarding an assignment or lecture. Check discussion threads on the first and second page to see if the question has been already answered. Asking a question that has already been answered crowds the discussion boards with needless postings and forces other important topics down the list.

3.) When asking a question be polite and courteous. Although it is a discussion board amongst peers, dialog should be handled in a professional manner. Keep slang and abbreviated text to a minimum. Be precise in the question you are asking.

4.) In conjunction with checking daily and frequently, it is important to post daily as well. Posting on discussion boards establishes your persona as a student. Being involved shows the professor that you are interested in the material which may come in to play when final grades are posted. Some online professors require a form of participation as a factor to grading. Posting on the online discussion board will increase your participation.

5.) Use correct grammar when posting on the discussion boards. In line with being polite and courteous in responses, it is important to correctly punctuate and space paragraphs. Students scan as they read online discussion board postings. Giving the posting properly spaced paragraphs allow the student to quickly scan the discussion and respond in a timely manner.

6.) When answering a question regarding lecture material cite the source of the answer. Giving a citation will give further proof that the answer is correct and give the fellow classmate and opportunity to research further.

7.) Be patient with fellow online discussion board members. Sometimes questions require additional time to answer.

8.) Do not use the online discussion board for personal queries. The online discussion board is for online school related matters. Posting questions such as “What is everyone doing tonight?” is frowned upon and should only be used when in personal dialog with other friends.

9.) Stay on topic when replying to a discussion question. Do not attempt to change the topic from the original topic. If an additional question is required pertaining to another discussion thread, create a new thread and reference that discussion in your new question.

10.) Be respectful of others. Respond to others as if they were in a face-to-face classroom setting.