As you can see, the very top of the page has a link back to the conference, and the index number of this topic. Just below that is the name of the topic, again in large bold text.
If you were to click into one of the topics in your conference, you would end up in a page that looks something like the picture below:
As you can see, the very top of the page has a link back to the conference, and the index number of this topic. Just below that is the name of the topic, again in large bold text.
The topic message is usually few sentences explaining the purpose of the particular topic. In the case of a course conference, the topic message might be:
- The syllabus
- Other general information about the course
- A summery of a chapter in the class' book
- Notes from a particular lecture
- Information and a link to a related WWW page
- An article pertaining to the class
- Information about the next assignment
- etc.
The New Activity section is the part where the actual conferencing takes place. This is the area that lists the new messages posted, and from which you can place your own messages to start a new conversation or in reply to an already existing conversation. To form a loose analogy, this section corresponds to you checking your answering machine, except that the messages are arranged in categories. Let's do this by example. The New Activity section for Conferencing On the Web, Topic 1 looks like this:Recent Conversations for Math_211_S99, Topic 1.1: [COWSearch]
| Number | Total | New | Conversation | |
| 1 | 7 | 0 | Questions on Limits |
The Number column simply numerates the list of conversations. The Total column indicates how many messages in total are within a given conversation. And the New column indicates how many of the total messages are new, that is, how many you have not read yet.
This section may or may not show up in a topic page. Basically, it allows you to link to some of the other topics in the conference that might somehow be related. A professor might choose to link two related chapter summaries together. The related topics section might look something like this:
Related Topics:
| Number | New | Topic Name | |
| 1 | 0 | General Interest |
- Mark all as Read: this button only shows up if the conference fair witness wants it to, because it allows you to mark all of the conversations as if you had read them, so that you don't have to go through and read them all. It's a good way to catch up on your reading, without actually reading.
- Start New Conversation: this button is good for those times when you have something to say that doesn't fit as a response to any of the messages in the other conversations. Click here an you go to a page that has a box where you type your message, and another where you type the title of your message (like the 'Subject:' category in an e-mail). The rules for typing a message here are the same as those for changing your profile.
- Last Ten Conversations: this button will be useful in topics that have been around for a long while and hence contain a large number of conversations. Basically, it will take you to a page that lists the ten conversations that contain the newest messages in order newest to oldest.
- Last Twenty conversations: this button works like the previous one except that you get a list of twenty messages instead of ten.
- Show All Conversations: remember that when you enter a topic you see a list of only those conversations that have new messages. If you want the bigger picture--all conversations--click this button.