Tip: Individual Student Discussion Boards
Give each student a dedicated space within the LMS for an easy-to-access record of communication.
If you’ve been a reader for while, you know that email is a particular challenge for me, especially during the semester when student emails are highest in volume. I’ve shared some of the strategies I use to help students to get answers to their questions in hopes of avoiding responding to repetitive requests, and I still rely on the Mailbird program to manage my various email addresses. Some other strategies include “throwaway” Gmail addresses, creating common responses as shortcuts within a text expander program, and choosing single-tasking over multitasking most of the time.
I have a new strategy to share - full disclosure, it’s not one I have implemented, so I would love to hear from you if you’ve done something similar.
Individual Discussion Boards
This simple strategy is a very helpful alternative to the clunky (and, sadly, nearly useless) Canvas Inbox. Despite my strong appreciation for 95% of Canvas features, the Canvas Inbox is one that just frustrates me. Since most Tips readers use Canvas, you’ve probably got your own list of reasons why the Inbox is unhelpful.
As an alternative to begging students to use their school email rather than messaging via the Canvas Inbox, a reader recently shared the interesting solution of setting up a private discussion forum for each student. Then both student and instructor have one place where all communication across the semester happens, with an easily-accessible archive of every exchange. Of course, this solution isn’t perfect - it isn’t easy to access the discussion forum after the semester ends, it might be a bit clunky to have to log in to your LMS every time you wanted to ask a question, and it doesn’t make it easy for instructors to share the same pieces of information to multiple students. I will probably stick to my “Ask the Instructor” discussion forum where I encourage students to post questions - and answer each other’s questions - rather than splitting that into individual, private forums.
Want to learn more?
If you prefer a more social media-style exchange, GroupMe has some interesting possibilities for use in higher ed, as does Slack
Both the built-in Canvas chat and various chat alternatives can be a space for Q&A that feels more collective than email
What do you think - can you see a useful application for individual discussion forums?
Breana, I love your idea of using individual discussion boards for streamlined communication—it’s such a practical alternative to the Canvas Inbox! It’s always great to explore strategies that simplify teaching workflows. Here are some Good Comebacks for managing communication effectively!