S.O.S. Discussion Forum to the Rescue
One great use of the discussions in Blackboard is to set up a place where students can ask the instructor or other students questions about the course. The accessible course template provided by Online Learning includes a forum titled "SoS - Get help here!". You can change the name if you like. Then include a description that lets students know this forum is a place for their questions about the course, homework, and so on.
TIP:
Subscribe to your S.o.S. forum. This will alert you whenever a student posts there, so that student questions don't linger without an instructor reply -- and so that you become the on-the-spot, just-in-time instructional hero your students know you are!
Benefits of an S.o.S. Forum
- Students have a channel of communication built within the course
- Students can answer each others' questions even before the instructor sees them -- which helps create community, enforces collaborative learning, empowers students, and even lets instructors see if the other students in the class are also confused (a sure sign course instructions may need to be revised)
- Instructors can address class-wide issues in one place
- Instructors can easily catalog issues that came up in the course so they can resolve these issues in a future term
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Related Pages
- Communicating with Students
- Connect with Blackboard Students Early
- How to Allow Early Access to Bb Lesson
- Sharing Your Blackboard Syllabus
- S.O.S. Discussion Forum to the Rescue
- Student Access to Course Content in Blackboard
- Student Introductions
- Student Success
- Students Having Trouble Opening or Viewing Content
- View Blackboard as a Student
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