DOCUMENT by: ESC Training
Subject: Terminology

Ask a Question area: located at the bottom of each course module. When students use the "Ask a Question" icon from any course page, their questions are posted in this area. Both the instructor and other students are able to view and respond to questions in this area.

Collapse Twistie: Next to postings that have responses you will see this icon if the thread is expanded. If you click on this twistie next to one of the discussion threads, the postings will collapse to that level of indentation of the discussion.

Discussion Thread: (See also Threaded Discussion) a discussion thread is begun each time a response is made to the original discussion item. For instance, if 7 students reply to the original discussion item there are 7 possible discussion threads. Students and the instructor add to a thread each time they respond to that particular response. Each level of response is shown as indented on the module menu. An extensive thread may have several layers of indentation.

Edit Link: a link that appears at the top left corner of your response documents (and any other document you have editing privileges on). Use the Edit Link to change your response. Generally this feature would be used to make slight edits, not to change the actual content of the response.

Expand Twistie: After you collapse a discussion area you will see this icon. If you click on this twistie next to one of the discussion responses, the next level of responses will appear. You can continue to click on this version of the twistie until you have followed the whole discussion thread. This icon will no longer appear when there are no further response levels to view.

Newsflash: area of the Course Map used to relay short announcements to students on a regular basis. Is an important tool in keeping all the students on the right track and for letting them know that you are engaged in the learning process.

Respond icon: when you reply to an original discussion item, you will click on the Respond icon in order to enter your response. This response will appear underneath the original item indented once. All responses that are submitted to the original item will be indented once and listed chronologically from top to bottom (first person to submit a response will be the top document listed under the original document).

Respond to this Response icon: When you reply to someone else's response, you will click on the Respond to this Response icon in order to enter your reply. This response will appear underneath the response item, indented further than the document responded to.

Private Folders: area of the course (right most part of the Class Community, just above the Learning Modules display on the Course Map) used for private communication between the instructor and individual students. Students must edit their Meet Your Classmates profile (add bio info) in order to have the system automatically create a student folder for them.

Threaded Discussion: a way of displaying internet communication that tracks which replies are made to which original messages. Each thread can be considered a whole discussion that one would have in a regular classroom. It could have several layers of responses (represented by indents in the display). The indents help you see what each of the responses goes with (See also Discussion Thread).

Your Evaluations: located on the Course Map page, this is where students go to view any evaluations you have created for them in the course. When you as the instructor go to this page, you will see all the evaluations for all students.

If you have any questions about this material, please click on the ASK A QUESTION link below. Now go to the next document to continue this module.