The IAL Bulletin Board

A short Introduction

What the bleep is a Bulletin Board? What can it do for you and how do you “operate” such a board? These questions came to my mind when people started talking about having such a feature for IAL. Perhaps most of you are familiar with BBs and know how to post messages and reply to them or search for certain topics. But perhaps some of you, like me in the beginning have no clue. To answer your questions and help you to use this wonderful tool, I wrote the following short introduction.

Overview

First of all: what is a Bulletin Board? "Bulletin Boards" are places on the internet where people of similar interests gather to have discussions and get answers to their questions. Bulletin boards are also known as discussion boards, message forums, online communities, BBs, or other names -- these all mean the same thing. There are many different kinds of bulletin boards on the internet: bulletin boards for amateur pilots, bulletin boards for pit bull owners, bulletin boards for motorcycle enthusiasts, and now a BB for Accelerated Learning and for IAL at http://www.ialearn.org/phpBB2.

Our Bulletin Board works like all the others: first, you register a username and password (it's free, of course). Then, you choose a “Usergroup” or several that you are interested in and subscribe to them. This might be “Accelerated E-Learning” or/and “ AL in Schools” for example. Now you can type in your question. Other people will see your question, and they can then type in their answers. Before you know it, a lot of people are discussing your question and offering you advice. You can also read through and reply to any of the questions that other people type in on the board. You can make suggestions and share experiences… It's very easy to do -- once you get the hang of it, you'll be posting questions and answers very easily.

Each “Forum” has a moderator to structure the discussion, sometimes to reorganize posts and make sure that everybody follows the rules (like no bad language etc.).

In addition to this public area we can create hidden groups, which are only visible for people who have permission. The IAL Board, for example, has a “private” area and there are already several invisible teams using the Bulletin Board. If you want to use this feature for your chapter group or a project group, please let me know and I will set it up for you.

Of course, like most other bulletin boards, the IAL Bulletin Board has its own set of rules. We have rules about behavior (profanity is not allowed), rules about advertising (company owners are not allowed to advertise their businesses), and rules about asking questions (questions have to be asked in the right category -- no questions about certification in the E-learning category, for example).

Step by Step

Step 1: Go to the Bulletin Board
The address of the IAL Bulletin Board is www.ialearn.org/phpBB2. Click on this link and the BB will open up in a new window. If you want to go to this place more often, you should bookmark this location/add it to your favorites (by hitting Ctrl + D).

Step 2: Register
You can look around and read (nearly) everything, but right now you are only a “guest”. You need to register first. This is quite simple. I will show you how to do it in a short movie:

As you have seen, these are the steps:

Click on “Register”
Read the terms and conditions and agree to them
Enter your username, valid e-mail address and password
Choose if you want to receive e-mails when somebody replies to your question etc.
Set your time zone and submit
To make sure that the e-mail address is valid and that nobody else has registered using your name, you will receive an e-mail notice with a link. Click on this link and your “account” is active.
Each time you come back to the BB you need to log in with your username and password, unless you have chosen “Log me on automatically each visit” in the log in box.

Step 3: Usergroup(s)
Now as a registered user, you can become a member of one ore more “Usergroups”. Once you are a member of a group, you are able to post questions and comments, change and delete them, as well as receive answers. It only takes a few easy steps:

Click on “Usergroups”
Choose the group you want to join and
Click on subscribe
Repeat for each group you want to join

Step 4: Creating a new topic
Now you are set to enjoy all the features of a Bulletin Board. Let’s assume you want to ask a question. This is how you create a “new topic”:

Here are the steps:

Select a “Forum” that matches the content of your question
Click on the button “New Topic”
Type in your subject and then your message
Hit the submit button – and the world can read your message

Step 5: Replying to a topic
You will also want to share your knowledge and reply to questions that other people have submitted on others’ contributions. This is what you do:

Remember these steps:

Click on the button “Post Reply”
Key in your text
Hit submit

Questions

Visit the IAL Bulletin Board and start discovering what you can do. Click on forums, scroll through messages and get more and more familiar with the hierarchy of category, forum, topics and messages – and then start posting. What once seemed foreign to you is now easy and fun.

If a question pops up about the Bulletin Board or its features, send me an email. I will get back to you.

Enjoy the BB – and good learnings!

Roland

IAL's Bulletin Board
Guidelines

Before You Ask Your First Question
Before you start a new discussion, please check if there is place where people are already talking about your subject. This will help us to keep it easy for everyone to find what they are looking for.

Asking Your First Question
After you've searched through the current posts without finding an answer, it's time to post on the board. Here are a few basic tips:

If you are unsure of exactly what to click on to post a question on the board, don't worry. Easy instructions are listed in the article “Short Introduction to the IAL Bulletin Board"
Always make sure you submit your question in the correct forum.
Be polite. When you ask a question, you are asking for a favor.
Do not ever post in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. It is considered rude. Here's why: now I'm speaking softly and politely, BUT NOW I'M SHOUTING REALLY LOUDLY!!!
Write a descriptive subject, not "have a problem" or "need some help". This will help people to answer your question easily.
Before you post your question, read it over once. You can always use the "Preview" button to see what your post will look like before it goes on the board.
If it's your first post on the board, you may want to introduce yourself.

Don'ts
Don't post your email address on the board. Users reply to questions on the board, not by email. This gives everyone the opportunity to profit from the contributions.

Don't try to pretend that you know more than you do. Admit what you know, and what you don't, and this BB will be a learning experience for everybody.

Don't use foul language in the forums.

Don't get off-topic. A question about the AL cycle should not end up as a heated discussion on global politics. The forums are for on-topic discussions about Accelerated Learning and related subjects.

Don't advertise your business. If you are affiliated with a business, please do not post contact information for that business on public board posts, in your custom user title, or in your avatar. Business contact information includes, but is not limited to: physical addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and URLs. Stating the name of your business is allowed, as long as the name of your business is not identical to any business contact information.

While advertising is specifically not allowed, helping out BB users with your services is allowed. If you offer a service that may be useful to a fellow Bulletin Board user, please feel free to contact him or her by email, or by using the board private message system. If you are affiliated with a website, you may post that website's URL in your user profile page, and then you may refer people to your user profile page if your services are relevant to their question.

Don't cut-and-paste large amounts of text into your posts. When quoting information from other online sources (articles, emails, posts from other boards), don't cut-and-paste large amounts of text into board posts. It's illegal, unethical, and it slows down our board search engine. Instead, just quote up to a paragraph of text, and then put a link in your post that people can follow to read the entire resource. This helps to keep threads easy-to-read, and shows respect to the original author of the quoted resource.

After You Ask Your Question
After you ask your question, and get a few ideas from the people who answered you, be sure to come back and let the community know what happened. Everyone likes to know how their ideas worked out, and if they helped you or not. Forum members like to know how the problem was solved. Also, it helps other people who will look at the discussion later on when they are searching through the old posts.

Thank you very much for your help. Enjoy the Bulletin Board!