Introduction
Welcome student! Congratulations on making the choice to pursue higher education through online learning with the University of Phoenix®. Online learning is a convenient and accessible way for adult learners to earn a degree. The University of Phoenix’s Online Discussion Forum will be your virtual classroom for the duration of your scholastic journey, and this manual is your online tour guide to help navigate that classroom. In this manual you will find instructions for accessing your classroom, getting to know the forums and how they work, and personalizing your settings. Good luck and enjoy your journey!
Technical Requirements
The University of Phoenix online program supports IBM® Personal Computer (PC) systems and Apple Mac® configurations. The following chart is a list of minimum requirements for each system (University Of Phoenix, 2013).
Requirement PC MAC
Operating System Windows XP® or later Mac OS X® 10.4 or later
Software Microsoft Office® 2007 or later * Microsoft Office® 2008 or later *
Internet Browser Internet Explorer® 8 or later** Apple Safari® 5.0 or later**
*Microsoft Office Suite must include Microsoft Access. Microsoft Office Professional Academic 2010 (PC) or 2011 (MAC) is recommended. **Other Internet browsers that are supported include Mozilla Firefox® 3.5 or later and Google Chrome™ 7.0 or later
System requirements:
• 2 GHz processor or faster
• 1GB RAM or greater
• 80 GB hard drive or larger
• 1024x768 resolution monitor or greater and supporting video card
• Sound card with speakers
• CD-ROM drive
• Adobe® Reader 9.0 or later
• Adobe® Flash plug-in 10.0 or later
• Anti-virus program (updated regularly)
• E-mail account
For additional questions or further technical support, please contact Technical Support at technicalsupport@apollogrp.edu or call (877) 832-4867.
Section1: Getting Started!
1.1 Logging In
The University of Phoenix Student Portal is home to the Online Discussion Forums. (Please note: this is a different web site from the one used to research and apply for admission.
To log in to this site, follow these instructions:
1. Go to https://portal.phoneix.edu/
2. Enter user name and password.
3. Click login (Figure 1).*

*New students – Students accessing the Student Portal for the first time must have the Individual Record Number (IRN) number provided to them by their academic advisor to sign up.
New student instructions:
1. Click the “New to campus? Sign up here” link (Figure 1, above).
2. When the new page loads, follow the onscreen instructions to establish a user name and password
3. Click “Register” (Figure 2).
4. When the new page loads, login.
1.2 Accessing the Discussion Forums
The Home page is the first page presented upon login into the Student Portal (Figure 3). This page has three important links: the Materials link; the Assignments link; and the Discussion link. All students should be familiar with these three links. However, this manual deals primarily with the Discussion section of the student website. The Assignment link will be addressed later, since it can also be found inside the discussion forums.
These discussion forums are where each student attends class. In order to enter this forum, click the Discussion link located in the Current Classes box. (This link can also be accessed by first clicking the Classroom tab at the top of the Home page and clicking on the Discussion link located there).________________________________________
Section 2: Getting To Know Forums This section covers getting to know Forums. Figure 4 shows a screen shot of the Main discussion forum. All forums, when open, share a similar format. You will see a Forums column, to the left. The underlined items are hyperlinks. The student can click on any underlined hyperlink to enter a specific forum. If there is a black numerical value in parenthesis next to the forum’s name that indicates the number of messages or posts that remain unread. When there are unread posts, the underlined items are in bold .
Figure 4: Discussion Forum Since assignments are due according to Phoenix time, the current date and Mountain Standard Time (MST) are displayed in the top right corner. All times displayed are in MST. Next to the date/time is a button that offers to open the webpage in another window. This allows students to access the Discussion forum while accessing other pages in the site, such as Materials.
Displayed in the middle of this page are the number of replies to each new thread, the author of the new thread, and the last date something was posted to a particular thread. Across the top of and bottom of this area are the following:
• Post a New Thread, which allows a student to start a new topic.
• Forum View, which changes the way your message displays on the screen.
• Pages, which show the number of pages that reside in a particular forum.
The following symbols can be found next to messages within the forums: Represents Posts by Student
Represents Posts by Facilitator
Represents Posts that are Important
Represents Discussion Question
Represents Credit Earned for Participation

2.1 Main
The Main forum consists of threads started by the class facilitator. Students can post in the Main forum, but facilitators usually ask the students to refrain from starting a new thread. Facilitators generally post a thread for student questions, weekly discussion questions, and announcements in this forum. By posting in the Main forum, students get participation and Discussion Question credit for the current class.
2.2 Chat Room
At the beginning of each new class, the facilitators post a bio in the Chat Room forum and require each student to also post a “Bio.” These bios help students to get to know one another. The Chat Room forum is open to messages not pertaining to school or that specific class. Posts in this forum do not count toward class participation.
2.3 Course Materials
The Course Materials forum is reserved for facilitators to post university and course documents such as the syllabus, student workshops, course policies, grading guidelines or rubrics, learning team documents, and any other items specific to the current course.
2.4 Learning Teams
Under the heading Learning Teams (LTs), there are six learning teams folders A through F. The class facilitator directs team selection the first week of class. Students interact with other team members in the team folder they’ve been assigned/or have chosen. Team assignments, participation, and rules are facilitator specific and are contained in the syllabus or course policies for that course.
2.5 Individual Forum The Individual Forum is a private forum. This forum is only used for communication between student and facilitator of the current class. Here, facilitators post the student’s weekly feedback regarding assignments and grades. This forum can also be used for two-way private messages between the facilitator and student.
2.6 My Items
This section encompasses the My Drafts and My Sent Items forums, which can only be seen by students. When a student writes a thread or a responds to a post, the website saves a copy to My Sent Items forum. If a student wishes to save a draft to continue adding information later, a copy can be saved to My Drafts for later retrieval.
Section 3: Using Forums
This section covers how to use the Online Discussion Forums by demonstrating how to post new messages, reply to existing messages, and use threads to keep your topics organized.
3.1 Posting
To post a new thread, click the forum in which you wish to post the new message, as shown in Figure 5 (This following is for example only. As mentioned in Section 2, you cannot post in the Course Materials forum and you should not start a new post in the Main forum. Both of the previous forums should be limited to replies only.):
Figure 5: Opening the Forum Once the forum is selected, a new window will open (Figure 6). In this window, click the Post New Thread button to start a new thread, see below:
Figure 6: Posting a New Thread

Once the Post New Thread button is selected, the following window will appear (Figure 7):
Figure 7: New Thread Window

In this window, you can begin typing and formatting your message as follows (Figure 8):
1. Type in the subject line of your post
2. If you have files to attach, click the Browse button located next to Attach File and select the appropriate file from the file menu, below:
Figure 8: Attaching a File

3. You can now begin typing your post in the body of the window (Figure 9).
Figure 9: Typing a Message

4. Use the formatting menu to format your text, see Figure 10 below:
Figure 10: Formatting a Message

5. When your message is complete. Post your message to the forum by clicking the Post Message button, as shown in Figure 11.
Figure 11: Posting a Message

Or, you can cancel your post by clicking the Cancel button. This will send a copy to the My Drafts forum. If you do not wish to save the post at all, click Discard Draft.
3.2 Replying
To reply to a thread, you must first open the thread in which you wish to reply, see Figure 12 below:
Figure 12: Opening a Thread A window will then open and you will see a list of all replies to that particular thread, as well as a bottom panel containing the original message. You can choose to reply to the main message and start a new thread with your response, or you can click on another user’s response and add a post to their thread, see Figure 13 below:
Figure 13: Replying to a Thread
In order to reply to this post, click the Reply button to the bottom right. There is also a View/Print option that allows the student to print/view a post. The Flag Message and Mark as Unread are tools that can be used to keep messages organized.
3.3 Organizing Threads
Towards the end of class, messages starting getting congested and hard to find. There are several things you can do to aid in the organization of these messages, such as:
• Use Flag Message or Mark as Unread to keep the messages bold for easier retrieval.
• Use Preferences (discussed in section 2) to assign colors to different authors.
• Use smart threading techniques to keep like topics together. o Make sure a topic hasn’t been started before starting a new thread. o Make sure you are replying to the correct post.
• When posting answers to weekly Discussion Questions, Weekly Summary or facilitator led topics make sure to reply to the facilitator’s original post.
• Work out a threading strategy with teammates during the first few weeks of class.
• Most importantly, NEVER POST IN THE MAIN FORUM unless instructed to do so by the class facilitator.
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Section 4: Changing Settings
This section demonstrates how to change display settings to get a customized view. Below the Forums box, in the left hand column, you will see a Preferences link (Figure 13). Click on this link to get to the My Preferences page.
The My Preferences option allows the student to change the way his/her name and messages display. Students can also organize messages by adding a signature line and changing color preferences, see Figure 14:
• My Display Name. This section allows the student to change the way his/her name is displayed to the rest of the class. To change a name, just enter it into the available box.
• Compose Message. This section allows the student to personalize the body of his/her messages. Select a font or font size from the drop-down box to change the font size and font type, or select “Yes” to enable auto spell check section or to compose messages in a new window.
• My Signature. This section allows the student to build a signature block that appears at the bottom of messages. By selecting “all messages”, “new posts”, or “replies”, settings can be customized.
• Color Messages. This section allows the student to change the color of messages by author for organizational purposes.
Please note: It is important to click the Save Preferences tab below the signature block to save any changes before exiting the page.

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Section 5: Additional Options/Useful Links
This section reviews additional options that are not necessarily required for classroom participation, but provide links back to other areas of the Student Portal. They are listed at the bottom of the left hand column of each forum page as follows:
5.1 Class Member
When a student is logged into the University of Phoenix eCampus Student Portal, there is a blue underlined hyperlink titled Class Members on the left side of the screen. This hyperlink is located below the Forums box, when under the Classroom and Discussion tabs. By clicking this hyperlink, the student can see all of the current class members who are officially enrolled in the current class. Each class member’s name is underlined and in blue indicating that it is a hyperlink. By clicking on a class member’s name, the student can see all of the chronologically dated posts made by that particular student during the current class. This can be helpful to the student when trying to find a specific post made by any class member, either through the title of the post or from the forum the post was made in. Each class member has an E-mail address through the university that is listed as a hyperlink (underlined and in blue). By clicking on a class member’s E-mail hyperlink, it opens a new E-mail message from the student to the class member through the University of Phoenix E-mail system.
5.2 Tips/FAQ
• Counselors. Each student is assigned to an academic, an enrollment, and a financial counselor. The enrollment counselors assist students with all matters prior to enrollment including: o Filling out the school application o Starting the process for financial aid and student loans o Requesting official transcripts from previous schools o Getting class transfer credits approved o Assisting students with picking a specific degree/program
The academic counselors assist students with matters involving: o Changing academic programs o Altering class schedules o Getting extra leave time between classes approved o Making complaints
The financial counselors assist students with all the financial matters that can be involved when going to school including financial aid and student loans.
• Join A Friend. The University of Phoenix offers a “Join A Friend” program that offers students the opportunity to request specific classmates to be on the same class schedule. All students who want to participate in the program have to make a request to their own academic counselors by the beginning of the fourth week in each class. The academic counselors involved will coordinate the students’ schedules to mirror each other. At the beginning of each class, each of the students have to send a request to the class facilitator requesting to be on the same learning team as the classmate who they requested to do the “Join A Friend” program with. It is no guarantee that the students will be in every class together, and it is up to the class facilitator whether to put them on the same team together. The academic counselors suggest not doing the program with more than four people because chances become less likely to be placed on the same LT if there are more than four people requesting to be together.
• Information Technology (IT) Support. University of Phoenix offers a 24-hour toll-free hotline at (877) 832-4867 to all enrolled students who have questions about any IT issues.
5.3 Useful Links
The final section of this manual focuses on when a student is logged into the University of Phoenix eCampus Student Portal. From the homepage, the student can click on the Library tab. The Library tab is at the top of the page in white font color with a red background that becomes a lighter red when the cursor hovers over the tab. After the student clicks the tab, the word Library changes to black font color and the background becomes white. Once under the Library tab, on the right side of the screen is a box titled Useful Links. In the Useful Links box are several options in blue to choose from. When the mouse hovers over these blue links, the links become a bright blue and they become underlined indicating that they are hyperlinks to click on.
5.4 Reference and Citation Generator
One of the hyperlinks in the Useful Links box is the Reference and Citation Generator. This hyperlink offers a site (https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/cwe/citation_generator/) that includes four choices of tabs to click on:
• Home
• Generator
• How To Use
• About APA Style
When using the actual generator, the student must first choose what type of source the reference is from (e.g., a newspaper article, a website, a textbook, etc.). Once a source has been chosen, the student enters information into the necessary fields (e.g., author name, title of source, chapter number, etc.). After the Submit button is pressed, a reference is provided as well as three different ways to cite within the body of a document.
5.5 Grammar and Writing Guides
One of the hyperlinks in the Useful Links box is the Grammar and Writing Guides. This hyperlink goes to the Center for Writing Excellence site (https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/grammar/) that includes five choices of tutorial hyperlinks to click on:
• Writing Style
• Plagiarism
• Grammar Mechanics
• English Language Learners
• Grammar Glossary
There are other hyperlinks to the left side of the screen that offer more help to students for various writing assignments.
5.6 Submit a Paper for Review
One of the hyperlinks in the Useful Links box is the Submit a Paper for Review. This hyperlink takes the student to a resource under the Library tab where written documents can be submitted to WritePoint® and Plagiarism Checker. WritePoint takes a submitted document and gives grammar and writing feedback to the student within the body of the paper. These recommendations for changes typically consist of changing a passive voice to an active voice, removing unnecessary commas, altering run-on sentences, adding to sentence fragments, etc. The Plagiarism Checker generates a report that states what percentage of the submitted paper matches other sources on the Internet, other documents submitted to University of Phoenix, etc. The passages that are exact matches are in a different color and bold and the matching source is also in the same color for easy referencing.
5.7 Learning Team Toolkit
The Learning Team Toolkit is just above the Useful Links box under the Library tab. The Learning Team Toolkit box includes links for the forms Learning Team Charter and Learning Team Evaluation, and the box also includes a blue hyperlink to Learning Team Videos. The Learning Team Toolkit box provides a hyperlink to a site (http://www.apollolibrary.com/Library/ltt/toolkit1.aspx) that offers other resources for learning teams. These learning team forms will be used in almost every class at University of Phoenix. Some facilitators will ask the students to use a different version of the charter or evaluation forms and these will usually be provided in the Course Materials forum. Conclusion
Thank you for taking time to get acquainted with your University of Phoenix Online Discussion Forums. We hope that this manual has provided you with a comprehensive guide to learning in your virtual classroom. If you did not find everything you need in this manual, please contact your academic counselor or class facilitator for more information. Happy learning ! References
University of Phoenix eCampus. (2013). Retrieved from https://portal.phoenix.edu/home.html