Pre-course Survey
You may want to send out a pre-course survey to find out whether your students will be on or off campus, what kind of internet and computer they have access to, and what time zone they will be in. Here is a sample survey. If you would like a copy, please write coursesupport@davidson.edu.
Moodle Announcements
Moodle Announcements appear at the top of EVERY course page. Only professors or course leaders can post in the announcements forum, and students cannot respond to these posts. Students will also receive an email of the announcement in their Outlook accounts. These announcements can be useful for updates on the schedule or syllabus, or anything else that doesn’t require a student response. All you need to do is click on the Announcements Forum and add a new topic. Whatever you write will be sent to everyone in the course!
WordPress/Domains
Davidson Domains can also be a robust space for communicating with students. Using WordPress as a platform, you can comment on posts and have students comment on each other’s ideas/posts. Communicating with Domains can be done in private groups or in public spaces – you and your class can decide what is best depending on the project.
Discover how to claim your domain, add subdomains, and install WordPress.
Third Spaces / MS Teams
Third spaces, like Microsoft Teams, Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, and GroupMe, offer text chat, calls, and video conferencing. They can be a place where students can interact more informally than they do within discussion forums.
Microsoft Teams can be used with your Davidson email account and students do not need to create a new account and password. You can also share Office files like documents or PowerPoints through the app. You could use it to:
- Open a student’s assignment during an appointment and talk them through your feedback
- Create a channel for answering students’ questions, to reduce the number of emails they send and avoid answering the same questions multiple times
- Have students chat and call through the app for a group project so they don’t have to schedule Zoom meetings
- Use channels as a third space, beyond home and work, for socialization and communication
