Welcome! This page will help you quickly get started using CourseForum.
If you don't already have access to a running CourseForum site, please visit the main CourseForum page to either download the software yourself, or try our live demo site.
Full Documentation
This page will give you a few tips to start with CourseForum. But the best way to learn all that CourseForum can do for you is by looking at our full user's guide:
CourseForum User's Guide (PDF)
As well, we have several other resources available that can help you:
Basic Concepts
Each CourseForum course is made up of a collection of individual web pages. Unlike a normal web site though, you can quickly and easily change any page in the course, or create your own pages, right from your web browser!
Because everyone else in your course can do this too, this makes it easy to create and share information with each other. Use the forum to coordinate work, share files, discuss issues, collect information, and much more.The Forum Page
Open your web browser and navigate to a course on the CourseForum site you're using (if you don't have a course, try creating one on our live demo site). Each course contains any number of pages, each of which looks something like this (though the overall look can be changed via themes).
Title Area
The bar along the top shows the name of the current page, and if provided,
the name of the course.
Find Pages
At the very top right is an area allowing you to search for pages in
the forum.
Action Buttons
Below the 'Find' area at the top right are four buttons for frequent
tasks: posting comments, editing the content of the page, or taking
you to the Home or Help pages.
Recent Changes
This area, just below the colored area at the top, shows you the pages
most recently changed, a good indicator where people are working.
Page Content
Most of the page (the parts with the white background) is made up of the
actual content for the page, which is different for each page. All this
area is fully editable by anyone, as you'll soon see.
Post your Comments
This area allows you to quickly add a comment to the end of the page.
Page Footer
This area at the bottom right of the page shows you where you are
within the CourseForum site, and helps you navigate around it.
Creating and Editing Pages
Creating a New Page
To create a new page, click on the 'New Page' link towards the bottom
left of the page. This screen will appear. Type in the name that
you'd like to give to the new page, and click the 'Create' button.
If a page by that name already exists, you'll get sent directly to
that page. But if not...
Editing a Page
You'll then be taken to the "Edit" page, which allows you to
modify the content of the new page you've created. It goes
in the large area of the page, which will start out blank since
its a new page.
Add some text to this page. Type it in the box, just like you
would an email, leaving a blank line between paragraphs. When
you're done, press the "Save Changes" button.
More Editing
If you want to make more changes, click on the "Edit" action button at the
top of the screen. This will take you right back to the "Edit" page you used
above.
Getting Fancy
Take a peek at the editing hints at the bottom of
the Edit page. You can easily make links to other pages or websites,
create lists in the page, use bold, italics, and more.
Posting Comments
Typing the Comment
Instead of editing the page (where you can change anything in the page),
you can also just post a comment, which appears at the end of the page. This is handy for discussions.
Add your comment in the text area in the "Post your comments"
section at the bottom. You may also have to
fill in your name between the square brackets, if you haven't done so yet.
Posting
When done, click the "Post" button to the right of where you typed your
comment.
You'll then see the comment you entered, placed at the end of the page.
Further Reading
We hope this page will have gotten you started with CourseForum. This is just the tip of the iceberg though! There's a whole lot more for you to explore: formatting, working with files and images, protecting your pages, group projects, and much, much more.
Again, for more information, consult our User's Guide (PDF), Frequently Asked Questions page, online support forum, or send email to [email protected].