Your quizzes and other written submission are done on-line. The results will also go to your instructor. Other exercises which involve more text such as essays or short answer questions are done with an interactive form in which you may type the text directly or copy and paste the text from another word processing program. After you submit the form, it goes to your instructor who will then correct it, write comments and give you a grade. Your instructor then submits it back to you and a record of all your assignments are kept in your database, including the time and date that it was submitted by you and corrected.
Discussion is an important part of many classes.
You are expected to not only make your own comments but to also respond to other student's ideas and opinions. ANY time you have a question. It is recommended that you do not spend any more time online than you need to. Think of it as checking your e-mail. It is good to check daily to see if your instructor has put up a new announcement or if there is anything new in the discussion area.