An introductions forum is a great place to start building course community. An introductions forum is a place where everyone in the class - students and instructors alike - can talk to each other and share a little about themselves and their goals and expectations as they begin their course experience together.

A student cafe is a forum that you place in your course for the purpose of encouraging students to talk socially with each other throughout the course. With an online cafe you're trying to mimic the times in a face-to-face class where students are milling about before or after class, socializing with each other. 

For this activity you should:

  1. put a new forum into your sandbox and name it "Introductions Forum" and/or put a new forum into your sandbox and name it "Student cafe"
  2. fill out the forum description to give guidance to your students as to what kinds of posts you'd like them to make and if you as the instructor will be participating in it or not (for example, if you are creating an introductions forum, what information would you like them to include in their introduction? In the case of a cafe forum, what kinds of conversation are you expecting?)
  3. if you are adding an introductions forum, make a post as if you were introducing yourself to your real students

Ready to get started? Head on over to your sandbox on Innovate and start exploring. 

If you would like more guidance or inspiration before you begin:

  • Read Principle #1 - Activity 1: Personal Introductions (pp. 49-50) and Principle #1 - Activity 3: Goals and Expectations (pp. 52-53) in the TEC-VARIETY book
  • Specifically, consult the article How to create a Forum in the Knowledgebase. It will open in a new window.
Last modified: Tuesday, 21 March 2023, 2:29 PM