The webinar provides guidance on using Blackboard discussion forums for asynchronous learning, including tips for participation and resources from the Managed Learning Environment (MLE) team. It discusses the importance of adapting online learning technologies during university shutdowns, emphasizing low-bandwidth solutions to accommodate diverse student needs. Various upcoming webinars and topics of interest related to Blackboard and digital learning support are also outlined.

1. Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg View of the Forum in Rome
Welcome!
We’ll be starting at 14:00
Please follow these tips
during the webinar:
 Mute your microphone.
 Turn off your video if you
have bandwidth issues.
 Use the chat function to
ask questions.
 For technical help, contact
ServiceLine
Introduction to Blackboard Discussion Forums
Matthew Deeprose – iSolutions Managed Learning Environment (MLE) Team
Facilitated by: Tamsyn Smith – iSolutions Digital Learning Team

2. Agenda
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Introductions and
housekeeping
Some info about
the MLE team
Blackboard
discussion board
Further possible
webinars
Blackboard
Collaborate
AOB

3. MLE Team
We support
 Blackboard
 Panopto
 Turnitin
 Computer based exams
 QuestionMark OnDemand
 MySouthampton
 eAssignment
 efolio
 and more…
@uos_mle
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4. MLE Team
After ServiceLine
MLE are the third
busiest resolver
team in iSolutions.
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Group Tickets 2018/19
Service Desk 46,431
Incident
Response Team
21,919
Stores Warranties
and Disposal
3,947
Managed
Learning
Environment
3,481

5. Housekeeping
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Mute your microphone,
when you are not
speaking.
Turn off your video if you
have bandwidth issues.
Use the chat function to
ask questions.
For technical assistance,
contact ServiceLine

6. Facilitation
Flemish Cognoscenti in a Room hung with Pictures

7. Accessing chat in Teams
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8. Accessing chat in Teams
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9. Using Blackboard discussion boards for
asynchronous discussion
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Typical uses and
benefits
Creating a link to a
discussion board
Boards, forums
and threads
• What’s the difference?
• How do I create them?
Subscribing
Using an avatar
Posting and
replying
Collecting a
discussion (pdf)
Rating posts
Q&A

10. Synchronous vs asynchronous
Internet access
Devices available to
students
Caring responsibilities Illness
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11. Bandwidth
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12. Bandwidth
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13. Bandwidth
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14. Bandwidth
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15. Discussion Forums
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LOW BANDWIDTH
REQUIRED.
ANY TIME, ANY
PLACE, ANY
WHERE.
FINE ON
COMPUTER,
MOBILE OR TABLET.
LOW-TECH, EASY
TO USE
Mirabello Cavalori A Discussion

16. What we learnt from “going online” during
university shutdowns in South Africa
We ourselves had to learn new
technologies very fast.
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Prof Laura Czerniewicz, director of University of Cape Town’s
Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT)

17. What we learnt from “going online” during
university shutdowns in South Africa
We ourselves had to learn new
technologies very fast.
Video conferencing was the
executive response to going online
overnight, but it didn’t factor in
unequal digital access and relative
affordability of data.
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Prof Laura Czerniewicz, director of University of Cape Town’s
Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT)

18. What we learnt from “going online” during
university shutdowns in South Africa
We ourselves had to learn new
technologies very fast.
Video conferencing was the
executive response to going online
overnight, but it didn’t factor in
unequal digital access and relative
affordability of data.
We generally recommended more
asynchronous communication and
less bandwidth-intensive solutions.
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Prof Laura Czerniewicz, director of University of Cape Town’s
Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT)

19. Discussion Forums: Typical Uses
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SEMINAR BASED
DISCUSSION
CHECK
UNDERSTANDING
“NO-AGENDA” Q&A
COMMUNITY
BUILDING
“EVERYTHING YOU
WERE AFRAID TO ASK
ABOUT THE MODULE”
(ANONYMOUS
DISCUSSION)
GROUP-BASED
DISCUSSION
(BLACKBOARD
GROUPS)
Mirabello Cavalori A Discussion

20. Scenarios
•Suggested reading:
• Designing online
discussions
• Developing Engaging
Online Discussions
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Christie DeCarolis

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Jan van der Heyden
An Architectural
Fantasy
Post to the chat:
• Uses you have made of discussion
forums in your teaching.
• What made them successful?
• What lessons can you share?

22. Anatomy of a discussion board
Board
Forum
Thread
Thread
Reply Reply Reply
Reply
Forum Thread Reply
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23. Forums
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24. Threads
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25. Replies to threads
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27. elearn.southampton.ac.uk
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• 76% higher usage at the start of the
academic year.
• Used by 1,399 academic institutions
from 32 countries, including 368 from
the UK.
• 400+ Bb guides
• 70+ Panopto guides
• 70+ Turnitin guides

28. elearn.southampton.ac.uk
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https://elearn.southampton.ac.uk/blackboard/continuity/ https://elearn.southampton.ac.uk/blackboard/communication/

29. elearn.southampton.ac.uk
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https://elearn.southampton.ac.uk/blackboard/dbsetup/ https://elearn.southampton.ac.uk/blackboard/student/db-post/

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Paul Cézanne The Avenue at the
Jas de Bouffan

31. Blackboard
Using Blackboard to support the continuity of education:
https://elearn.southampton.ac.uk/blackboard/continuity/
Setting up a discussion board:
https://elearn.southampton.ac.uk/blackboard/dbsetup/
Using a discussion board:
https://elearn.southampton.ac.uk/blackboard/student/db-post/
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32. Questions and Answers?
•Still to come:
• Further webinars?
• Blackboard news
• Easter downtime
• Collaborate
• To the cloud…!
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Georges Seurat The Morning Walk

33. Ideas for further Bb webinars
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Detail from: Pieter de Hooch
A Musical Party in a Courtyard
 A weekly “no-agenda” session.
 Overview of the continuing education page and what the various
boxes are referring to.
 Everything you wanted to know about announcements and emailing
with Blackboard but were afraid to ask.
 50 shades of assignment – an overview of Bb assignment, Bb tests
and surveys, and using Turnitin within Bb.
 Adaptively releasing content to students on your Blackboard course.
 How to ensure you have access to your Blackboard courses.
 Bluffers guide to running your first Turnitin hand in in Blackboard.
Post suggestions and
ideas in the chat.

34. Ideas for further
MLE webinars
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Detail from: Pieter de Hooch
A Musical Party in a Courtyard
Italian, North The Interior of a Theatre
 Creating engaging Panopto
lectures from home.
 Getting started with
eassignment.
 Editing Panopto lectures into
bite sized learning objects.
 Creating scalable re-usable
question pools for adaptive
assessment with QuestionMark
OnDemand.
 Facilitating Assessment of
Student Presentations using
Panopto.

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News

36. Easter downtime
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Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder A Still Life of Flowers in a Wan-Li Vase
Tuesday 7 April 08.00 – 16:00
Necessary to apply update that will
 Allow migration to the cloud.
 Resolve two critical security issues.
 Resolve issues with Chrome 80 that we
are currently working around using a
separate technical workaround.
 Fix a few bugs.

37. Blackboard Collaborate
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Coming Soon

38. Blackboard Collaborate
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Coming Soon

39. 25/03/2020
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Coming Soon

40. 25/03/2020
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Coming Soon

41. Blackboard to the cloud
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41Joseph Mallord William Turner The Fighting Temeraire

42. Blackboard to the cloud
• Expected migration around 28 June 2020
• X days of downtime (as little as possible)
• Benefits:
• More scalable
• Ally: accessibility assistance*
• More features, e.g. portfolios, content management*
• More iSolutions time for developing and supporting the service.
• Cc
*Rollout cadence TBC
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43. Useful
resources
and next
steps
Join the Digital Learning
Connect Teams site
elearn.southampton.ac.uk
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