USING THE FORUM

Created by Mark Feder

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To get to the Forum, go to the Curriculum Guide eslus.com/ilc. You need to type in the username (teacher) and password (interlink) to enter (you may need to type this information twice).

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In the Curriculum Guide, click Forums in the top menu.

To enter the Forum, type the username and password again (this is to protect members from spam and prevent the theft of personal information).

Before you can use the Forum for the very first time, you must register (you do this only once).

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Click register in either the top right corner or in the middle of the screen

Fill out the registration information.

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For username, please follow this format: firstname@centername (eg. Andy@csm). People need to know whom they are talking to in the Forum. Usernames that do not conform to this requirement will not be accepted.

Check the I Agree box at the bottom and click Register.

Once you are successfully registered, you will receive an email and will be able to log into the Forum. Record your username and password in a safe place to avoid login problems in the future.

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You may log in using either the box in the center or the one in the upper right corner.

When you are logged in, your screen will look this this:

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Note the following elements on your screen:

Scroll Bar

Welcome Info

Tabs

Categories

Boards

The Scroll Bar, of course, lets you move up and down the page when there is more information than can be viewed on the screen at one time.

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Either click and drag the scroll bar

or click the arrows.

Now, let’s look at the Welcome Info.

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The Forum greets you with your Username

The Help link takes you to a very thorough and detailed but easy-to-read Help section created by ILC/CSM teacher and tech specialist Thad McGinnis. You can find answers to all your Forum questions by clicking on this link.

If you have any private messages, they will be indicated here and clicking the link will take you to them.

This link takes you to anything that has been posted since your last visit.

This link takes you to new posts that respond to messages you have posted.

Next, let’s view the Tabs.

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The Home and Logout Tabs are self-explanatory, so let’s begin with the Search Tab.

The Forum Search tool is flexible and robust. It allows you to search for items anywhere in the Forum or in very specific locations as well as to search by submission time or contributor. You can experiment or use the Help screens to improve your search capabilities.

The Profile Tab provides information about your account and the menu on the left allows you change settings and adjust your account in various ways.

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The Help section provides detailed information on choosing options to personalize your account and make it more convenient for you to use.

The My Messages Tab allows you to manage your private messages.

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Messages are like internal e-mail. You can send private messages to other Forum members and receive messages from them. You can manage your In and Out Boxes, organize and label messages and search for data within messages on this page. Messages are private and not published – they can be viewed only by the sender and recipient.

The Members Tab allows you to see who the other Forum members are, email them and even visit their websites or possibly chat with IM.

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You can access contact information of other Forum members through the Members Tab and you can arrange the information in the order (or reverse order) of any of the headings.

You can find a member quickly by clicking the first letter of her or his Username.

Next, let’s view the Categories, which are at the top of the organizational hierarchy and are the main headers (shaded brown) in which everything is contained.

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Categories are collapsible, which means that you can either view or hide the contents. By clicking the minus sign in front of the Category name you can collapse it (and the minus sign becomes a plus sign).

If you collapse all the Categories, you can see all of them on one screen. And of course, you can view the contents of any one of them by clicking the plus sign.

Each Category focuses on a particular type of communication.

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The Staff Meeting Minutes is where you can find the minutes of each center posted.

The Teacher Forum contains for Staff Profiles (more about that later), a place for general discussion and comments, and a place for offering suggestions and feedback about any aspect of the program.

The Benchmark Sample Committees category is for communication among committee members while reviewing (and if necessary revising) Benchmark Samples.

The Center Forums are for discussions and announcements within the centers.

The Classroom Contribution (CC) category is for reading and submitting CCs each term. There is a Slide Show Guide devoted entirely to the CCs.

Each Category, in turn, contains Boards.

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For example, the Staff Meeting Minutes Category contains Boards for CSM, ISU, UNCG and VU. The Teacher Forum Category contains Boards for Staff Profiles, General Discussion, and Suggestions & Feedback. Right now, this is what the Benchmark Sample Committees Board looks like:

There are Topics within the Boards and each Topic has its own name, listed under the Subject header.

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If we look at the Category named Staff Meeting Minutes and click in ISU, the Topics below are displayed.

In this example, the Topic names are the dates of the Staff Meetings. By clicking on the Subject header, you can arrange the Topics in alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order (in this case, they will appear in chronological or most-recent-first order.

Clicking on the Topic takes you to the actual entry or Post.

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After reading a Post, you can add your own comments by clicking Reply. Your Post will be added to the Topic thread and can be read by all members. And of course, replies can be added to previous replies. By clicking the Notify tab, you can receive email notification of replies to this Topic.

Clicking Reply opens the Text Editor which allows you to write and format your comment.

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You can type directly in the text box or you can paste text which you have copied from another source.

Many formatting options are available in the text editor.

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You can bold, underline, italicize text or change the font color in the text editor just by highlighting the text and clicking the appropriate icon.

However, you will notice that the text box does not show the actual text as it will appear but instead shows the html code for the formatting you have applied.

To see what your entry will look like before posting it, click the Preview button.

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Your formatted text will appear above the Text Editor. You can also apply other formatting elements to your text. To learn more about them, use the Help file.

In addition to replying to Posts, you can start a new Topic in some Boards*.

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* Note that in some Boards, new Topics can only be started by Senior Staff, but replies can be made to any Topic in any Board.

Just go to the Board that you want to start a new topic in and click NEW TOPIC.

When you start a new Topic , you will see the same Text Editing box that appeared when replying to a Post.

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The only difference is that you need to write a name for the Topic you are starting in the Subject box.

We have now covered all the basics of using the Forum. Of course, as you use it, you will learn many other tricks and options not covered in this overview. If you run into problems you can always consult the Help section, ask the Director or a colleague, or send a message to Mark Feder or Thad McGinnis.

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The Forum is a vital tool for communication among teachers and between centers and should be visited at least once daily.

A special place has been established in the Forum for every staff member to supply a little information about himself or herself. Sharing this information gives us a bit of an idea about the people we are talking to and hearing from in the Forum and thus facilitates communication.

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To post your information, go to the Staff Profiles Board in the Teacher Forum, click New Topic and write your Username for the Subject. Some things you might consider including in your profile are:

a photo

something about your background, education and professional experience

details about when you came to INTERLINK

description of your interests and hobbies

information about your family

anything that would help others get to know who you are

Have fun using the Forum. See you there.

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THE END