• Logging into the WebBoard

The WebBoard accounts for individual students have been setup by the instructor. In order to login, click on Discussion using WebBoard (item #10 of the courseware menu) and enter your user name and password assigned to you by the instructor in the two textbox fields.

• Using the Menubar

You can navigate through the WebBoard easily by using the menubar. Following are the components present in the menubar.

• Post: To post a new topic or message to a conference. The messages are sorted according to the time they were posted.
• Refresh: Updates the Conferences list to indicate any changes done.
• Chat: Displays the available chat rooms and it gives information about active users in each chat room.
• Profiles: Provides the user with options to edit the user profile or to view any conference profiles.
• Search: This is used to search the topics and messages by using keywords.
• Mark All Read: : Users can mark messages as read for one or all conferences.
• More: Displays more options to the user which include, Current Users, Today's Users, Search Users, Top 10 Users, Top 10 Posters, Today's Messages, New Messages, Login as a Different User.
• Help: Provides detailed online help on how to use the WebBoard.

• The Message Menu

• Top: It brings the user back to the first message.
• Post: A new form appears for posting a new topic to the current conference.
• Reply: A new form appears for replying to the same topic.
• Reply/Quote: A new form appears, instead of being blank it has the text of the current message included.
• Email Reply: Users can email the reply to the author of the message.
• Delete: Deletes the message the user has posted.
• Edit: Users can edit their posted messages by using this option.
• Previous: Displays the previous message.
• Next: Displays the next message.
• Previous Topic: Displays the first message of the previous topic of a conference.
• Next Topic: Displays the first message of the next topic of a conference.

• Posting a Message/Topic

There are three methods to post a message. (1) From the message menu, select Post; (2) From the WebBoard menubar, select Post; and (3) From the WebBoard menubar select Profiles, from the conference profile list, locate the conference to which the item needs to be posted and then from the conference profile select Post a message to this conference. In the Post window, enter the topic name in the Topic field and then enter the message. There are several options at the top to choose from and the user should choose the desired options. After adding information into the message box, click on Post and depending on the kind of settings the user chose, the message will be posted in that format.

• Participating in a Chat Session:

Chating on the WebBoard is a real-time and simple to use method of exchanging information and participating in discussion with fellow users who are in the same conference chat room. From the Menubar, select Chat to view the list of available chat rooms. Enter the chat room by selecting the room name from the list and the user will see text of an ongoing discussion. Comments can be added to the converstion by entering the text in the text box located below the chat menubar. Following are the items in the chat menubar:

• Compose: A window appears for entering a chat message.
• Refresh: Updates the lines of text appearing in the chat window.
• Rooms: Shows list of available chat rooms.
• Users: Displays a list of users in the current chat room.
• Close: Closes and exits the chat room.
• Help: Provides detailed online help on how to use the WebBoard.