Students succeed when they talk to each other about their work, in face-to-face courses and in distance digital courses. For distance digital courses, you may be asked to participate in some type of discussion, most often using a page on the HE-CMS called "Discussions."
Most discussions are asynchronous, that is one person writes, and someone else will respond later. Synchronous discussions are where people write to each other in real time, and are less common.
Discussion pages use WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) web editors that look much like Microsoft Word, Google Doc, or Apple Pages writing applications. There are basic formatting options, such as bold and underline, and often allow you to check spelling. Below is a sample discussion page. In the bottom corner the check mark below the A is the spell check. You should always spellcheck your discussion posts before submitting them.
➡️**Did you know? **Discussion pages are web pages, which means if your internet fails or your web browser reloads, anything you are writing on them can be lost. Writing in a non-web application, such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or Apple Pages and then copying and pasting your text into your discussion board eliminates the possibility of writing a long and thoughtful discussion post that is accidentally deleted.
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