Community Tools

There are several tools available to support community and collaboration in your online course. These tools support user interaction and communication that can be integrated anywhere within a course.

Each tool is briefly described below.

• Gradebook- Use to manage student grades and provide feedback on assignments. Please refer to Using the Gradebook for more details.
   
• Forum- Interactive discussion forums are used to build community and discuss course topics.
   
• Blog- Primarily used for course announcements. The announcements can be used to distribute important news and updates about the course. An announcement may convey important information, support transition from week to week, and set a positive tone for the experience.  Students can post comments to instructor announcements.
   
• Calendar- Use to keep track of important dates such as assignment due dates or synchronous chats.
   
• Chat- A text-based way to engage in synchronous dialogue with students.
   
• Groups- Use for collaborative group work, this feature can be used to set up “Team Spaces.” Each team space can have their own blog, calendar, chat, discussion forum, and resources, specifically for their designated group. Groups or team space can be set as either private or public.
   
• Resources- Use to post supplemental course resources separate from your course content such as an article or link to a website. Resources can be set up so that students can also post articles and links they wish to share with the community.

Work with your instructional designer to determine what tools will work best for you and your course(s).