"Timing-out" Information for Discussion Forums
Since students don't always read the instructions for discussion forums, we suggest that you send them the following reminder:
Important Advice
When you are writing messages in the text box of a discussion forum, that activity is not recognized by the software your Internet Service Provider (ISP) uses to connect you on the Internet. After a set amount of time (ISPs have different time limits) of not receiving any information from you, your ISP may "time out," and your connection to the Internet may be broken, resulting in the loss of your work.
In order to make sure you don't lose your work, you should compose your longer messages off-line in a tool such as NotePad, WordPad, or MS Word, You can then cut and paste your writing into the text box in the discussion forum.
You should always keep electronic copies of all assignments, including discussion assignments, on your computer at home in the event that an assignment is lost.
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