Discussion Forums

Using the Discussion Boards

Soon, you'll be making a posting to a discussion forum. This will familiarize you with a forum on BrainHoney and also give the class some information about yourself. But first, here's are some important rules to keep in mind when posting to a discussion board.

Rule 1. Be considerate of others who will read your postings. This means not making offensive remarks and not using foul language.

Rule 2. Feel free to express your opinion, but do so in a way that won't come across as a personal attack.

Rule 3. Communicate clearly. Before hitting the Submit button, reread what you've written. Correct any grammatical and spelling mistakes, and make sure your message says what you really want it to say.

Here are some specifics about implementing the rules...

Keep your voice down: Have you ever received an email message written in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS? If so, you know it's annoying. Using all upper case is the online equivalent of yelling. If you need to emphasize something in your postings, use *asterisks* around the text to be emphasized.

Think before sending: Seeing people's body language while they talk and hearing the inflections in what they say can convey quite a different impression than reading text on a computer screen. Be aware of this when you write by being clear and straightforward with your language.

Think before replying: Have you ever read an email message that upset you, only to discover later that the author had just been careless in expressing themselves and had no intention to hurt you? But by that time, you had fired off an angry reply, which you came to regret later. The best way to respond to a message like that is to talk to the person face-to-face or on the phone. Since that may not be possible in this course, the next best way is to wait a while to cool down. Then write back using a neutral tone and asking for clarification.

And last but not least: Remember that things you post are recorded and saved in this course.

Study Tip. Use the discussion boards to ask questions of the class. That way, the entire class becomes a resource rather than just the teacher. In addition, if you find mistakes in the course materials, please post those, too.That will help to clear up confusion that students may be having.

D101. Physics and You

For your first posting, do the following now.

In BrainHoney, click on the Physics and You item in the Assignments 2014-15 at the top of the left-hand menu.
Read the messages that have been posted. When finished, click New Thread.
Give your message a descriptive title.
Compose a message in which you let your classmates and the teacher know something about yourself and why you're taking physics. If you have questions about the course, you can ask them here, too. Then post the message.

By the way, we won't always expect you to add a new thread. A discussion thread is simply a discussion topic. If you want to respond to a posting and remain on topic, you would click Reply rather than New Thread. We asked you to do the latter this time, since we figured each of you was a topic in and of yourself. However, feel free to reply to what other students have written.

Go to the next item in the Orientation about taking assessments.