Many faculty members agree that the discussion board is the heart and soul of an online course. It's where the bulk of the interaction happens. When properly designed and administered, the discussion board can be a vibrant place for students to work together, share their learning, and engage with you and their peers.

The two documents below provide great information about the effective use of discussion boards. Take a few moments to read both and learn about designing the questions (including some creative suggestions, like ice breakers and group assignments), deciding how and when to respond, redirecting the discussion when necessary, grading the discussions, and more.

• Mastering Online Discussion Board Facilitation (Edutopia PDF)

• Generating and Facilitating Engaging and Effective Online Discussions (Lincoln PDF)

To learn how to use the discussion board and grade discussion responses in Blackboard, please watch this brief video:

• How to Interact with and Grade Discussion Posts available in Module 4 Article 2