Introduction to SacCT: Using Discussion

Presented by ATCS (Academic Technology & Creative Services)
Sacramento State

The Discussion tool in SacCT allows messages to be posted to a public or private topic within a course, as defined by the instructor.

Accessing Discussion Postings

1. When activated by your instructor, you can find the Discussion tool in the Course Tools menu.  You may also have a link directly to a Discussion topic on the Course Content page or within a Learning Module.
2. Click the Discussion tool button to access postings. 
3. Click the name of a topic to view the messages posted to that topic.

Viewing Messages

• Messages are either read or unread.
• If a message is unread, the subject appears bold.
• To read a message, click the subject of the message.  The message opens in another browser window. You have several options to choose from:
• Click the Reply button to respond to the message.  Your reply will be posted for your instructor and others students to read.
  1. Type your message in the Message box.
  2. Click Post to post your message.
• Click the PeopleLinks Options button next to the author’s name and select Send Mail if you want to reply privately to the author of the message.
• Click the Forward button to send the message as a mail message to another person in the course.
  1. Do not type e-mail addresses into the To, CC and BCC text boxes.
  2. To address the message, click Browse for Recipients and select one or more persons to receive your message. 
  3. Click Save to save your list of recipients.
  4. Type your message in the Message box.
  5. Click Send to send the message.
• Click the View Attachments link to view or download any attached files.
  1. Click the name of the file to view the file.
  2. To save a file, select the box next to one or more files; and then click the Save to Folder button.
  3. Click OK to save the file in your My Files area of SacCT.
• Messages are grouped by the same initial subject - called a threaded discussion.  By default, the initial display format is Threaded.
  1. To read these messages, click the plus sign next to the first message to expand the threaded list.
  2. Click the subject to open the message in another browser window.
  3. Click Close this window to close the message window.
     

Viewing More Than One Message

You can read multiple messages in a single browser window via the Create Printable View button.

1. First, select the boxes to the left of the messages you want to view.
2. Next, click the Create Printable View button at the bottom of the list of messages in the topic.  A new browser window opens with the messages displayed.
3. Click Close this window to close the message window.

Creating Messages

1. From the main Discussion page or from within a topic, click Create Message.
2. Type a subject into the Subject box.
3. Type your message in the Message box.
4. If you want to add an attachment, click Add Attachments.
   1. In the Get Files window, click My Computer.
   2. Click Browse and locate the file on your computer.
   3. Click the file name to highlight it.
   4. Click Open to select the file.
   5. Repeat the process to browse for additional files, if needed.
   6. Click OK to attach your selected file to your message.
5. If you need to remove an attached file, click the Remove Attachment button to the right of the name of the attached file.
6. Click Post to post the message to the Discussion topic.