Teaching Tip: Use profile pictures to increase engagement

October 15, 2015

Marissa Carl

A picture creates a visual anchor that helps us navigate an online conversation, particularly one with many participants. Social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter are obvious examples, but did you know that Blackboard also supports profile pictures? Encouraging their use in your course could help increase student engagement in discussions and allow a learning community to develop more naturally.

Read the full Teaching Tip for step-by-step instructions on creating your own profile picture and for reasons other instructors encourage their students to do so: http://elearning.uaf.edu/go/tt-bb-profile-photos

Teaching Tip by Sean Holland, M.A., a UAF eLearning instructional designer who has a background in foreign language education and motion graphics. Sean is also a Google Certified Educator Level 2.