Online Discussions > Using Online Discussions

Blackboard Release 7.2 and 7.3 new features and improvements

• Discussion Board Tree View and List View
  Tree View gives the look-and-feel similar to the Blackboard Discussion Board in 2006 and earlier. The Tree View expand all option allows easy navigation within threads and from one thread to another. List View is the newer 2007 look that many instructors find cumbersome to use. Try both and see which one you like better.
  
• Discussion Board Subscriptions
  Instructors can now enable discussion board subscriptions. When enabled, those subscribing to an entire discussion board will get email notifications whenever postings are made on the board. Previously, only thread subscriptions were possible; now, one can subscribe to individual threads or to an entire discussion board. To activate subscriptions, instructors need to go into the Discussion Board and click the Modify link to change the Forum Settings.

Using On-Line Discussions

Using On-Line Discussions in Blackboard is one of the easiest ways to begin fostering on-line collaboration. This tool will help "engage" students and foster a community within your individual class. On-Line Discussions can be a very valuable component to a face-to-face course, especially on a commuter campus like UIC. These Discussion Forums provide a venue for "asynchronous communication". They provide a public forum and are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; they make "anywhere/anytime" learning a possibility. Forums can be set up on a topic by topic basis and customized with a host of different participation options.

Discussion forums allow you to:

• Clarify points that may not have been understood in class
• Allow students to learn from each other by leveraging the intellectual capital of your entire class
• Assist shy students by providing them with an alternate venue to participate in
• Improve a student's written communication skills
• Deal with monotonous questions in an alternate forum so you don't waste valuable class time

These are just some of the benefits of on-line forums - try them out yourself to see if they are right for you.

return to top

Related FAQ's

Q: How can I encourage student participation?

1 - Allow participation in threaded discussions to be used as a portion of a student's participation grade (in-class participation and on-line participation being weighted somewhat equally).

2 - Post an interactive assignment in a discussion forum and provide guidelines as to what you would like to see in the postings; encourage students to read/respond to each other's posts.

3 - Early in the semester participate actively by picking out a few good posts and respond to them yourself to let students know that you are actively reading messages in these forums.

return to top