Teaching Tip: How to help students build skills, community

April 22, 2014

Marissa Carl

If Blackboard and WordPress seem to get in the way of students learning course content, seize the opportunity to facilitate learning through play. Using social assignments, help your students build a community of their peers while teaching them how to use the course-required tools. This tackles the “I don’t know how” issue head-on, with a bit of fun and cohort-building on the side.

Assignment ideas for play

Have students...

• Post a picture of where they like to study.


• Post links to their favorite summer recipes.


• Embed their favorite YouTube videos.

Consider also giving the students an arena to create course materials for their current classmates and future students: study guides, possible quiz questions, infographics or images that support specific lessons. This gives students a sense of ownership, which encourages confident use of products like the Blackboard discussion board or WordPress posts.

Why leverage students' social technology skills? If we build on a student’s sense of community and their innate ability to mentor and be a mentee, we tap avenues that jumpstart their natural urge to engage. Guided properly, that urge will drive students to teach each other how to use the tools you require for the completion of your course.

For more on this topic, read the full post at iTeachU.

-- Teaching Tip by Janene McMahan, UAF eLearning instructional designer