NOTE: Q&A/Discussion functionality can be disabled by an administrator for the institution or organization, or it can be disabled by an instructor for a course. If you do not see a Q&A tab, this may be the situation; furthermore, Q&A can be temporarily disabled, to reduce student chatter during certain classes. Any entries made are still there, and once re-enabled, users will see them again.

The Q&A tab for a course is your one-stop-location for reviewing any discussion posts and responses made in any classes in the course as well as those posts entered directly into the Q&A tab. You can add new questions, or respond to existing posts in the Q&A tab, and view the class media being referenced by a post if applicable. The Q&A tab shows which class the posts were made for and provides a "General" option where students, teaching assistants, and instructors can post discussion points or questions that do not apply to a specific class.

Question and response fields will accept several thousand characters, and while you can enter line breaks into the field, they are not retained. Meaning readability of the post provides a practical limit to how much you can enter. Attachments are limited to 10MB.

HELPFUL HINT! If you bookmark another student's question, it will appear in your Study Guide for the class (along with any responses). Click the flag below the question to bookmark it (the flag changes from gray to blue). This is a great way to use other users' discussion posts to augment your class notes. Your questions/responses are always bookmarked for you.

All of the below procedures begin by accessing your course either from the Courses page, or by navigating into EchoVideo from your LMS/VLE. In either case, from the class list, click the Q&A tab as identified in the above figure to perform any of the actions on this page.

Viewing Question and Answer Entries for the Course

To view questions and answers

1. From the course class list, click the Q&A tab. By default, the questions are sorted with the newest ones first.
2. Use the drop-down list at the top to view questions for different classes. Also note that if there are posts you have not yet viewed, the number of 'New to you" questions is shown on the drop-down list label.
3. You can also view General Questions for the course (those associated with the course but not a particular class), or All Questions.
   The above figure shows All Questions for this course.
4. Click each question from the list on the left. The panel on the right changes to show the original post, any responses to it, and any attachments or class-media references if it has any.

To change which questions are shown

• Use the list at the top to select a particular class for which to view the question, or you can select All Questions or General Questions.
• Use the Search box to enter text and search for a particular question title or text within a question.
• Use the Sort drop-down to sort the questions with the newest on top or oldest.

Responding to Questions in the Question and Answer Tab

To respond to a posted question

1. In the Q&A tab. click a question from the list on the left to view any associated responses.
2. Click RESPOND TO QUESTION, shown in the above figure, to provide your own response.
3. Type your response into the text box provided.
4. Click POST when finished.
   

Your response is added to the thread along with any other responses that may have been posted.

Adding Questions to the Question and Answer Tab

To add a new question/discussion post

1. From the top of the Q&A tab, click NEW QUESTION.
   

   The questions list panel changes to show a new question form as shown in the below figure.
   

2. IF APPLICABLE (and pay attention; people always miss this part), use the drop-down list BELOW the question text panel to select which class this question applies to. Alternately you can select General if your post does not apply to a specific class. If you make no selection, the question is categorized as General.
   If you DO select a class, the question (and responses) posted here will also appear in the Questions panel in the classroom.
3. Enter your question text into the text box.
4. If desired, click the paperclip icon below the text box to attach a relevant file to the post.
5. If desired, enable the Post anonymously slider to add the question but hide your name (Anonymous is shown instead).
   IMPORTANT: Instructors and teaching assistants can always see the names of who posted a question or response; posting anonymously only hides your names from other students.

Endorsing Posts and Responses

You can endorse other users' posts by clicking the thumbs up icon. This can indicate items you agree with, the discussion point made, or the response given.

To endorse questions and answers

1. In the Q&A tab. locate the post you want to endorse.
2. Click the thumbs up icon as shown in the below figure. It resides directly below each question and response to which it applies, as indicated in the below figure.

   You can also click the thumbs up icon from the Discussions panel in the classroom.
   

Instructors can also endorse or "like" Q&A entries. If an Instructor has endorsed an entry, the item appears with "Instructor Endorsed" below it.

Editing or Deleting Questions and Responses

You can always go back and edit or delete any question or response you posted. You can only edit or delete your own posts.

Instructors and teaching assistants can delete any Q&A posts, either from the Q&A Tab or from within a classroom. Instructors and teaching assistants can also see who posted each item, even if you post it anonymously. So don't be rude or inappropriate. They know who you are.

Deleting a question also deletes all responses posted for the original question.

To edit/delete a question on the Q&A tab

1. In the Q&A tab. find the question or response you want to edit/delete. Use the drop-down list at the top to view questions for a specific class, or view All Questions.
   

   You may also want to use the Search box or the Sort drop-down to find the question/response you want to edit or delete.

2. Click the question from the list on the left to display it and any responses in the right-panel of the Q&A tab.
3. Click the menu arrow (also called a "chevron") located to the right of the question or response, then click Edit or Delete as appropriate.
   
4. If you are editing, a text box appears, containing the existing text of the question or response. Edit this text as appropriate. This is shown in the below figure.
   IMPORTANT: If you originally posted Anonymously, note that you will need to re-enable the anonymous slider on edit to retain the post as anonymous.
5. When finished, click SAVE.

The basic steps are pretty straightforward, but there are a few things that differ between editing a question and editing a response.

When selecting to edit a question, clicking Edit from the chevron menu opens the editing panel in the LEFT PANEL of the Q&A tab. Since this is where questions are posted, this is where they are also edited. You can also retain the original selection or select a new class (or General) for the edited question.

If you are editing a response, the editing panel appears at the bottom of the RIGHT PANEL of the Q&A tab. Since this is where responses are posted, this is where they are also edited.