Getting Started

Welcome to Psych 208 Discussion Board! The following are instructions for beginners. Additional information is in the FAQ, Formatting, available from the main menu.

Introduction

Psych 208 Discussion Board can be used for three main functions:

• To read ongoing discussions on a variety of topics
• To contribute to an ongoing discussion topic by "Adding a Message"
• To receive updates and class information

Anyone with access to the World Wide Web can read Psych 208 Discussion Board discussions. However, you must be a member of the class to contribute to the discussion. You have been assigned to a discussion group and have a handout describing how you access your discussion group. In addition, there are instructions for entering your username and password on each discussion group page.

Reading discussions

To navigate through the discussions, use the clickable hyperlinks. To advance to another page, single click on the link to the page. To go deeper into a topic, you will generally select links from the body of the page. To return quickly to a page that is further up, you can use the navigation bar which is a series of links at the top of each page. To jump back to the main topics page or leave the discussion group, use the navigation bar in the top menu.

You may also use the available searching utilities to search pages for new messages or for keywords. These have not yet been enabled; if students experience difficulty with the number of posts, I will add this search utility.

Contributing to discussions

To contribute to a conversation, navigate to the conversation of interest and type a message in the "Add a Message" text box. Fill in your username and password and click on "Preview/Post Message." Check the preview to make sure your message has been properly entered. Click on "Post this Message" when you have verified that the message has been properly entered.

Setting up your browser for optimum performance

Because most web browsers cache documents, your posts may not show up unless you refresh the frame. You can set your browser so that it does not use the cached version after you have posted a message as follows:

• Netscape (version 3 and lower): Click on Options, then on Network Preferences, and then on the Cache tab. Next to "Verify Documents" select "Every Time." Then click on OK to exit the screen.
• Netscape Communicator: Click on Edit, then on Preferences..., and then on the + icon next to "Advanced." Then click on Cache from the expanded tree. Under "Document in cache is compared to document on network," select "Every Time." Then click on OK to exit the screen.
• Internet Explorer: Click on View, then on Options..., then on the Advanced tab, and then on the Settings... button under "Temporary Internet files." Under "Check for newer versions of stored pages," select "Every visit to the page." Then click on OK to exit the settings dialog box, and finally on OK to exit the options dialog box.