You can search subject or subject and body of the messages. Invert Invert the current selection so the selected messages are unselected and the unselected messages are selected. Unselect All Unselect all messages. Mark Read Mark selected messages as read. Mark Unread Mark selected messages as unread.
Student can read the current messages.
If a thread needs to be opened for conversation, it can be unlocked. Remove Delete the selected messages. By pull-down listing at the bottom of the message listing. These options are not available to students. Once a forum is created, you may need to tweak the settings.