Around the Room
Online Faculty Development Course
In this course, you've already used an asynchronous discussion to introduce yourself to, and get to know, other participants in the OFDC. This is a common way to begin building community among online learners.
Another asynchronous discussion that some professors install is a "lounge" area. This is a place for off-topic conversation, that remains open and usable throughout the semester. If students wish to communicate with each other, in addition to discussion of course content, why not foster that, if it will create more social presence?
These kinds of asynchronous discussion options aren't just novelties, or course design box-checking. In the Ignatian Way, cura personalis - "personal care and concern for the individual" - includes coming to know your students, and encouraging them to bring personal perspectives and experiences into your course. "We as faculty need to understand the world of our students, including ways in which family, friends, social pressures, politics, economics, media, and other realities impact them," writes Sharon Korth.
Online Community Building
Early in the Spring 2020 COVID-19 crisis, Canisius Journalism Professor Dan Higgins knew his students were probably disoriented and disaffected by the radical changes in their lives and courses. He opened asynchronous discussions in his class where, he told students, they should "talk to each other and not just at each other" as they reflected on the crisis. He invited his students to build a playlist of music that "reflect[ed] their current mood." Higgins dedicated a few days to cura personalis, before launching back into the pre-arranged content of the course.
His playlist was made possible by digital streaming music services that allow you to share playlists. YouTube (such as the video on the right), Pinterest, and other social media sites can also serve as places students can gather content to share with one another in discussions that are either tied to weekly lessons, or just as part of a community-building asynchronous messaging.
FAQ
or
Q&A
Another handy course-wide discussion is a "Frequently Asked Questions" section, where students can ask questions that they don't mind sharing with others, and suspect might benefit other students. These questions might relate to course mechanics: technical questions, assignment instructions, grade breakdown, and so forth. By telling students to seek answers to these questions in a message board, you avoid having to repeatedly answer the same question via email.
In your syllabus, you can mention that the course FAQ is part of a student's workflow when a question arises: first, check the syllabus. Next, check the FAQ...
When preparing to teach a course again in the following semester, you can review the FAQ to decide if you need to add explanations to syllabi, assignment instructions, or other course documentation.