The Discussion Board in Blackboard allows interaction between students and instructors, much like classroom discussion. It's used in different ways by different instructors; some instructors require it as part of class participation.

To enter this area, click on Discussion Board using the navigation lines on the left side of the screen. The next screen will look something like this (depending on the course):

Mary sees that there is one discussion forum already started and one unread post. She clicks on this forum (using the blue link, "Introductions") to enter it.  

Messages will be displayed with a title, name of the poster, and when it was posted. To read it, Mary would click on the thread title (in this case, "Welcome!").

Mary can now read the message and, if she wants, can post a reply by clicking on the Reply button and typing a response.

After typing a reply, Mary must then click the Submit button. (NOTE: Clicking Cancel would cancel her reply. Clicking Save would save the draft of her response. She could continue working on it it later, but no one will see it until it is submitted.)

Mary now sees the original message and her reply. (Note that the "Unread posts:" counter is now zero.)

Mary now wants to write her introduction. Since she is currently in the "Thread Detail" view, she needs to move up one level to create a thread. Blackboard shows her the current level with the "bread crumb" menu. (This is circled in the screenshot below.) Mary can click the "Introductions" link (red arrow) to move up one level.

Mary will create her thread by clicking the "Add Thread" button, circled in the following screenshot.

A new text box appears that allows Mary to type a subject and the body of her post.

After finishing her message and clicking Submit, Mary will see her message is now available.