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Using the Course Message Boards
Revised: May 13, 2012
Published: March 01, 2012

INDEX

Terminology

Board
For a CE course this would be the name of the course. Contained within the CE board are the folders associated with that specific class. Boards are setup by the CE Staff prior to the start of the course.

Folder
Folders are used to group and organize discussions. Folders are setup by the CE Staff prior to the start of the course.

Discussion
Discussions are collections of messages that relate to a specific topic. The subject title of a discussion should describe the topic being discussed. Discussions are created by CE Staff, Instructors, and course participants. Participants are encouraged to read, reply, and start discussions on the course message boards.

Message
Messages are text, images, or PDF files posted to a message board discussion. Each message posted to the discussion should relate to the discussion topic. If your message is actually a different topic, then you will need to create a new discussion for that topic.

Post
The act of adding a message to a discussion.

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CE Message Board Participation Points

READING the boards:
  • Each time you log in to the main message board page for a CE course and click FIND SINCE, FIND NEW, FIND NEW REDO, or FIND ALL the Discussion Viewer page will load.
  • You may refine your selection by choosing the specific board, folder, or discussion prior to clicking one of the time option buttons listed above.
  • Once you have opened a folder, select one of the discussions in the folder by clicking on its title. Our software will track your activity as you view (read) the messages posted to that discussion.
    NOTE: the software logs the user by the unique username and password entered when logging in.
POSTING to the boards:
  • When you REPLY to a message in a discussion, the Discussion Viewer window will refresh and you will be tracked as reading that discussion again.
  • If you elect to POST NEW (create a new discussion topic with a new message) you will be asked to type in a subject line. Make your subject line brief and specific so others will easily recognize the discussion topic.
  • Once you POST the new message to the discussion your screen will refresh and you can read your post.
  • Regardless of whether you REPLY, or POST to a NEW discussion, each post is recorded as one participation post point for CE participation.
Statistics on your reads and posts are not finalized until after the course closes.

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Help Videos

Video instruction is provided anyplace you see the following icon:
As you can see in the following image, there are help videos to show how to access the message boards.

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Read the Message Boards

  1. Select the message board for your course by clicking on the radio button next to the course name.
    If you want to read a specific folder in the course message board, select the folder from the drop list menu.
     
  2. FIND...Set the posted message time frame.
    • Find Since --- Use Find Since with a specified time frame (on the right) to show all messages added to the selected message board folders during that time frame.
      Use your MyVIN or MyVSPN Boards Preferences to preselect the default standard time frame (i.e. 4 days).
    • Find New --- Use Find New each time you access the boards. This shows all messages added since Find New was last clicked.
    • REDO Find New --- If you get interrupted or have to leave the message boards before you are done, use REDO Find New. It allows you to keep redoing the Find New search until you have finished it.
    • Find ALL Msgs. --- Allows you to access ALL messages (best if used for a specific Board/Folder).

    Do NOT click on the Find Since, Find New, REDO Find New, or Find All Msgs buttons until you are done setting up the parameters for the discussion retrieval.
    As soon as you click on one of those four Find buttons, the message retrieval will begin.
    Please wait as this may take a few moments depending on the parameters you've chosen.

  3. If you have multiple folders listed, select the folder you want to view and the discussions within that folder will be listed.
    Note that the number of messages posted to each discussion is displayed within parenthesis to the right of the discussion title.

  4. Select a discussion and the discussion messages will display on the right-hand side of the page. Scroll down to read each of the messages posted to that discussion.

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Subscribe to a Discussion

You can subscribe to a discussion so that you will receive an email notification anytime someone posts to that discussion.

To subscribe:
  1. Within the discussion of interest, scroll down to the end of the list of discussion messages.
  2. Look for and select the orange Subscribe button.
    That's all there is to it. You will start receiving email notifications when new messages are posted to the discussion.
To unsubscribe:
  • The Subscribe button, when selected, changes to an Unsubscribe button. Click on the Unsubscribe button to cancel the email notifications.

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Search the Message Boards

  • On the bottom of the right hand side of the main message board screen there is a section entitled Search that provides a mechanism for searching the message boards. The Search area contains a set of three radio buttons (Text Search, Threadid Search, and Documentid Search) and a search text box. This selection searches only the message boards.
    • Select Text Search to search the message boards for posts that contain the words specified in the fill-in text box.
    • Select Threadid Search to search the message boards for posts whose thread id matches that specified in the fill-in text box. The use of Threadid is a holdover from the version 1.0 message boards. Using the Documentid is the preferred search method for retrieving posts for a specific discussion.
      The Threadid and Documentid for each discussion can be found on the discussion page at the bottom of the list of posted messages. See below:
    mbfaq20.jpg
    In the following example, the Text Search radio button is selected and the words "salary" and "wage" are provided in the search text box. So when one of the Find buttons is selected, only those posts that contain both "salary" and "wage" will be displayed.
    mbfaq05.jpg
  • Just above the Search area are a set of three checkboxes:
    • Only show discussions with pictures - check this box to limit search results to images only.
    • Update Find New Date - this box is checked by default. When checked, every time you click on the Find New button, the date designating the last time you clicked FIND NEW will reset to the current time. If you do NOT wish to update the date that you last used Find New, uncheck this box to leave the date unchanged.
    • Only show MyDiscussions - check this box to view ONLY the discussions/posts in which you have participated.
    mbfaq06.jpg

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Post to a Discussion (Reply, Reply to All)

When you are reading the messages in a discussion, you will see a Reply button at the end of each message, and a Reply to All button at the end of the discussion. Clicking on either of these buttons will open a posting form for that thread.
mbfaq08.jpg
  • If you click on the Reply button the posting form will load the text of that particular message from the discussion to the posting form so that you can quote from that message in your response.
  • If you click on the Reply to All button, all the messages in the discussion are loaded to the posting form so that you may quote from multiple messages in your response.

Quote from a Posted Message

In the Reply posting form, the discussion message(s) are displayed in a scrolled window. You can highlight text from the discussion message(s) there and then click on the Quote» button to have the highlighted material included in your response. You can do this any number of times within the same post by highlighting different text and using the Quote» button again.
mbfaq09.jpg

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Include a Hyperlink in Your Message

To direct readers to another message by inserting a hyperlink (i.e., web address (URL) or a link to another message board discussion) follow these instructions:
  • To post a message board discussion link to another CE message board discussion:

    1. Navigate to the message board discussion you want to link to in your post.
    2. At the bottom of the discussion thread is a box containing the Discussion Tools. Right click on the Discussion URL (Boards 2.0 Link) hyperlink and select Copy Shortcut. See below.
      mbfaq21.jpg
      Another way to copy the message board discussion URL is to select the Discussion URL (Board 2.0 Link) hyperlink and open it into a new browser window. Highlight the URL, right click, and select Copy. See below.
      mbfaq22.jpg
    3. Open a posting form (using New Post, Reply, or Reply to All) for the discussion to which you are posting.
    4. Right click in the message area of the posting form and select Paste.
    5. Finish your message text.
    6. Preview your post first to make sure the hyperlink works as it should.
    7. Post your message - hyperlink and all - by selecting Post Message.

  • To post a web page hyperlink (for something other than a message board discussion):

    1. In another browser window, navigate to the web page you want to link to in your post and copy the URL address (right click and select Copy).
    2. Open a posting form using New Post, Reply, or Reply to All) for the discussion to which you are posting.
    3. Right click in the message area of the posting form and select Paste.
    4. Finish your message text.
    5. Preview your post first to make sure the hyperlink works as it should.
    6. Post your message - hyperlink and all by selecting Post Message.

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Include a Picture or .pdf File in Your Message

It's very easy to add pictures to posts.
Note: You can use only .jpg, .gif, or .bmp files for images, or a .pdf file for text documents. You cannot post a Word or Excel file.
  1. Open a posting form (using New Post, Reply, or Reply to All) for the discussion to which you are posting.
  2. Type in a caption for the picture in the posting form.
  3. Click the Attach Image or PDF button at the bottom of the posting form. See below:
    mbfaq12.jpg
  4. The Upload My File window will open (pop up on top of your posting form).

    mbfaq13.jpg
  5. Click the Browse button to select a file to upload from your computer.
  6. (Step 1) Select the file to upload.
  7. (Step 2) While your file is uploading you will see a "Please Wait" message (see below).
    mbfaq14.jpg
  8. (Step 3) will ask you to verify the file uploaded is the one you want (see below).
    mbfaq15.jpg
    • Click YES if it is the correct file.
    • Click NO if you want to discard that upload from the posting form and choose another.
    • Click CANCEL if you want to discard the upload and cancel your post entirely.

  9. If you clicked YES, your file is now attached to the post and you can click Post Message to complete the post.
     

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Start a New Discussion

  1. Select the message board for your course by clicking on the radio button to the left of the course name.
  2. Next, select Find All.
  3. Look through the existing discussions in the message board folders to see if the topic of your question is already being discussed. Only if your question/comment doesn't relate to an existing discussion should you create a new discussion.
  4. To post a new question/comment and start a new discussion, click on the Post New button (designated by the red arrow in the following image) in the top right corner of the folder or discussion page.
    img - Post New (top rh corner)
    A posting form (shown below) is displayed. Within the posting form you will provide a message and select where you want to post that message.

    a. Select the Boards in which to post your message (Boards: Pick a Board) using the drop down menu arrow.
        This should be set to the message board for your class.
    b. Select the Folder in which to post your message (Folders: Pick a Folder) using the drop down menu arrow.
    c. In the Discussion field, type in a brief description of the topic of your post.
    d. Click in the space where it says "Enter your Message here" and type in your question or comment.
    e. Preview your message (review what you've written/make changes): click the Preview Message box.
    f. Save a draft of your message (finish it later before you post it): click the Save Draft button.
    g. Ready to Post? Click on the button that says Post Message.

    mbfaq03.jpg
Note: It is good professional form to provide an electronic signature to your posts. See Personalize your Boards for more information on how to save your signature and set your preferences to automatically append your signature to your message board posts.

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Post a Message into Multiple Folders (Cross-Posting)

For example; if you want to post a comment or question in both the Week 1 and the Week 3 folders without having to type it twice, you should use what is known as cross-posting. You would post your message in one of the discussion folders (i.e. the Week 1 folder) and then use a link to the first posting when creating your post for the second folder (i.e. the Week 3 folder).

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Personalize Your Boards

Setup the Message Boards to reflect your personal preferences:

  1. Navigate to either the My VIN Console or the My VSPN Console window.

    My VIN Console:
    • On the main VIN page (https://www.vin.com/Members), select My VIN from the navigation bar at the top of the page (refer to the red arrow below). This will open your My VIN Console window.
      mbfaq23.jpg
    My VSPN Console:
    • On the main VSPN page (http://www.vspn.org), select My VSPN from the left hand side of the page (refer to the red arrow below). This will open your My VSPN Console window.
    From the Preferences menu found on the navigation bar at the top of the console window, select Boards to configure your message boards preferences or select Signature to create/modify your electronic signature.

    Boards

    To personalize your message boards preferences:

    1. Select Boards from the Preferences menu found on the navigation bar at the top of the console page.
       
    2. Select the gray tab entitled Boards Search & Display Options to adjust how your message boards work for you. When finished, select the Update button to save your changes.
       
    3. Select the gray tab entitled Boards Posting Options to adjust the posting behavior of the message boards. When finished, select the Update button to save your changes. This is where you would indicate that you want your signature automatically appended to your message board posts.
       

    Signature

    To setup your message boards electronic signature:

    1. Select Signature from the Preferences menu on the My VIN Console navigation bar.
       
    2. Enter a signature with a personal favorite quote. We recommend that you keep your signature size to no more than 5-6 lines. Select the Update button to save your changes.
       

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