The Discussion Board (DB) is part of the core of online learning. Classroom discussion in an online environment requires the active participation of students and the instructor to create robust interaction and dialogue.

Every student is expected to create an original response to the open-ended DB question as well as engage in dialogue by responding to posts created by others throughout the week. At the end of each unit, DB participation will be assessed based on both level of engagement and the quality of the contribution to the discussion.

At a minimum, each student will be expected to post an original and thoughtful response to the DB question and contribute to the weekly dialogue by responding to at least two other posts, either the instructor's response to one of your posts, or posts from students. The first contribution must be posted before midnight (Central Time) on Friday of each week.

Two additional responses are required, each on different days, after Friday of each week. Students are highly encouraged to engage on the Discussion Board early and often - at a minimum of three (3) different days each week, as this promotes learning and is an important factor in grading for the Discussion Board assignment.

The purpose of the Discussion Board is to allow students to learn through sharing ideas and experiences as they relate to course content and the DB question. Because it is not possible to engage in two-way dialogue after a conversation has ended, no posts to the DB will be accepted after the end of each unit.

Assignment Details

This assignment has 3 parts:

Costs can be categorized in the following ways:

Actual vs. budgeted cost

Full cost vs. direct cost

Fixed vs. variable vs. mixed costs

Relevant vs. irrelevant costs

Product vs. period

Direct vs. indirect

Discuss the following questions:

Why is it important for a company to know the categorization of each cost?

How can this information be used in decision making?

Provide an example of each of the cost categorizations above.