Promoting Community in Online Courses

Building a sense of community in your online class is essential to the effectiveness and success of online students. In these uncertain times, we want to make sure that the lines of communication and connection remain open. In this blog post I will be discussing some tips you can use to create a sense of community in your online course. I will be using examples from what I have done in my own online course using the Blackboard Learning management System (LMS). If you use a different LMS you may have different features.

Using the Discussion Board feature to enhance communication and connection: 

• Creating outlets for discussions about COVID etc. 
  • You can easily create a Discussion Board Forum solely dedicated to discussion around COVID. I teach Registered Nurses and I know many of them are having a difficult time with what they are experiencing at work as well as balancing family and school. Opening a place where they can share their experiences with others who are experiencing the same thing can be very powerful. Although I also drop in to give encouragement, I mostly let the students reach out to each other. 
• Creating a Student Cafe area.
  • Luckily, COVID is not the only thing happening in the world or in our students' lives. Having a Discussion Forum where students can just talk about anything they want that is not course-related is also helpful. I call this the Student Cafe area, but you can call it anything that you think sounds inviting. 
• Creating a Q&A Forum.
  • The Q&A Forum is more specifically for course-related topics such as clarifications about assignments, due dates, etc. 

Using the Blog/Journal feature to enhance communication and connection: 

• Some students may not want to share their personal thoughts with the entire class. For this reason, you may also want to set up a blog/journal area just to give students a place to share their thoughts and feelings. While I only began doing this this semester in response to the COVID crisis, I think it might be a good idea in general because sometime students experience difficulties in life and may find solace in this type of an outlet.

Using the Blackboard Collaborate feature to enhance communication and connection:

• Blackboard Collaborate can be a great feature to use to allow students a synchronous option for communicating and connecting with each other. As a default, there is usually an "Open Course Room" in Blackboard Collaborate that can be used by anyone at anytime. Students can make arrangements with each other to meet up in the Open Room just to chat and connect.

I must also note that it is important for the instructor to monitor these forums for any type of offensive behaviors and speech as well as statements that may require additional interventions such as referrals to Student Services.

What do you think of these ideas? Do you use any particular features of your LMS to enhance communication and connection in your online course? 

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