Are you using Brightspace’s Discussions tool?
Here are our Top 5 tips on getting the most out of your Discussion forums:
- To guide students on how to contribute to the discussion, and to encourage engagement, put clear directions within the Description area.
- Set clear expectations of what to post within each topic. This doesn’t have to be just text – you could include images, videos, or other resources in the Description area.
- Schedule a regular time to review your discussion boards and let your students know when you’ll be checking in, so they know when to expect a response.
- Link to your discussion Forum from the content area of your unit so it’s easy for students to access and view responses.
- Monitor engagement with your discussion topics via the Statistics tab, or set up an Intelligent Agent to automatically thank people for their first contribution and to encourage further engagement.
Further help and guidance
You can find further help and guidance on the Discussions tool in the Brightspace Staff Resources area or contact your Faculty Learning Technologist.