A discussion forum link may indicate the number of unread posts within it. Click on the link to enter.

The entry page for the forum can contain quite a bit of information, including any instructions about how to use the forum, a list of discussions posted by students, a number of replies to each discussion and even a list of options about subscribing to the forum (having forum messages forwarded to your SCC email). Click on a discussion in the list of discussions to begin reading messages.

When you click on an individual forum message from the discussion list, you are taken to a view of that message. All messages - whether discussions or replies to discussions - will have a reply button. Clicking on the reply button will let you respond to that message with another message that will be listed below it.

This shows an example of a message with a reply. In this example, the reply is shown on the same page as the message but appears indented below it to indicate its status. Notice that on the right of the message screen is a menu that allows you to change how discussions and replies are displayed.

When you click on "Add a new discussion topic" or "reply", you will open the message edit screen. Be sure to give your message an informative title (one that tells your peers what your message is about). Enter your full message in the text window below the formatting bar. Be sure to learn the tools on the formatting bar. In addition to basic text formatting, the formatting tools allow you to add images, links, symbols, etc. to your message. You can also add file attachment to your message that are no larger than 1 MB.

Some instructors will choose to grade discussions. For graded discussions, you will often see a rating listed in the lower right corner of a message you have posted. This is the grade for your discussion as assigned by your instructor. This grade will also be visible to you in your grade report on your "My Grades" page.