At Duke, faculty use online communication tools in their teaching to encourage group work online, hold class discussion, foster student-student interaction, and build online community. Below is a list of several communication tools and where to find help getting started:

Sakai Forums: A great way to promote whole class discussions, group-based discussions, connections between students, and share course work. To set up Sakai discussion forums, see: “Set up a Discussion Forum.”  Consider using Sakai forums to:

• introduce students to one-another as an icebreaker activity;
• record audio files using Audacity (a free program) and post those in the discussion forum. (See “Record Audio Files to Use in Sakai”);
• participate in threaded discussions –instructors can set forum prompts for student discussion and group work. (Forum posts can also be linked to the Gradebook). See “How Can I Create Groups?” and “How Do I Set Up Discussion Forums for Groups?”

Piazza (Integrated with Sakai): This discussion board tool fosters student engagement and collaboration, and includes a polling tool, Q&A, and analytics. For more information see: Setup Piazza in Sakai.

Google+ Hangouts: Host a live Hangout on Air! This is a terrific video presentation tool for hosting guests, sharing student presentations, or meeting in groups, in real-time. Hangouts on Air can accommodate up to 10 users, allowing students to engage with the presenter and participate in Q&A. At the conclusion of the Hangout, the video file is uploaded to YouTube, for later viewing. (Free, but requires Gmail account).

Dr. Len White shares his enthusiasm for building online community:

Dr. Len White’s Google Hangout on Air for the Coursera MOOC: Medical Neuroscience

“One of the real surprises in teaching a MOOC is how much meaningful interaction, teaching and learning can happen in a Google Hangout. I had no idea before trying my first, and now I consider the Hangout to be a great means for building community in and around my course.”

Additional tools faculty may consider using to teach online include:

VoiceThread: Integrated with Sakai, VoiceThread provides students a way to create multimedia conversations using media (images, video, and documents) and comment on those via text, voice, or video. It also makes for a great icebreaker activity!  To get started, see: Voicethread (Start Multimedia Conversations).

Duke WebEx: Duke’s cloud-based video conferencing service is a great real-time collaboration tool, virtual class meeting space, or a shared presentation space. WebEx offers students the option to take notes during a presentation, and save those to a text file. (Requires NetID).  To learn how a Duke faculty member (Dr. Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel) used WebEx, see: Summer Statistics at Duke – Online, Flipped and Synchronous!

Skype: A Skype video call is a quick way to connect synchronously with your students either one-to-one, or in a group. Students can use Skype to work on projects together or address other group work. Up to 25 students can join a Skype group call. Additional features include video messaging, file sharing, and  group screen sharing. (Requires Skype account, free service)

Todaysmeet.com: Host a synchronous text chat discussion with your students  in a virtual classroom, and download a transcript of the conversation, using this web-based tool. Free, but requires creating your virtual classroom and sending students a url to the room.

For additional information on designing and developing an online learning experience, visit the CIT site: Teaching Online.