{"id":3328,"date":"2020-10-30T15:27:25","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T15:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/?page_id=3328"},"modified":"2026-01-28T17:47:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:47:39","slug":"supporting-students","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/supporting-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting Students"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"3328\" class=\"elementor elementor-3328\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-2fe3faf elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"2fe3faf\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-34d9bbe\" data-id=\"34d9bbe\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1144f61 elementor-widget elementor-widget-menu-anchor\" data-id=\"1144f61\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"menu-anchor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-menu-anchor\" id=\"supportop\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b390252 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"b390252\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li><p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><a href=\"#realtime\">How can I offer my students real-time online office hours?<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/li><li><p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><a href=\"#create\">How can I create a discussion board to stay in contact with students\u00a0and answer their questions? <\/a><\/span><\/p><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-61fa212 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"61fa212\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-0015904\" data-id=\"0015904\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-9f274bf elementor-widget elementor-widget-menu-anchor\" data-id=\"9f274bf\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"menu-anchor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-menu-anchor\" id=\"realtime\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2c604f6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"2c604f6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2><strong>How can I offer my students real-time online office hours?<\/strong><\/h2>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-0204260 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"0204260\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-3415a03\" data-id=\"3415a03\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-396b1c1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"396b1c1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>You can communicate with your student through virtual office hours. You would need to use Microsoft Teams to create virtual office hours.\u00a0<\/p><p>Please follow this link on <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/basic-teams-integration\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;color: #3366ff\">how to create virtual office hours<\/span><\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-b6ccd17 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"b6ccd17\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-bae7590\" data-id=\"bae7590\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d51fb7b elementor-widget elementor-widget-menu-anchor\" data-id=\"d51fb7b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"menu-anchor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-menu-anchor\" id=\"create\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-17cab0f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"17cab0f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p style=\"text-align: right\">\u00a0<\/p><h2><strong>How can I create a discussion board to stay in contact with students\u00a0and answer their questions?<\/strong><\/h2>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-5df7680 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"5df7680\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-8607e14\" data-id=\"8607e14\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e592e5a elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"e592e5a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Creating a discussion board is a great way to communicate with your class outside of teaching hours. It is a great way to have the class communicate with each other, extending the session outside of their timetabled lessons. It is also a great way to get students to interact with each other either as a class or as groups.\u00a0<\/p><p>When creating a discussion board there are two ways to do so on your BlackBoard module site. Each of these methods will take you to the same page when creating a discussion board.\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>Create Discussion Board in the discussion tab<\/strong><\/p><p>One method to creating a discussion board is through the discussion tab on the top row of your module site.<\/p><p>On the discussion tab <strong>[1]<\/strong> you can create a new discussion board <strong>[3]<\/strong>, and you can create a folders <strong>[2]<\/strong>, here you can save all of your discussion boards to better maintain and organise.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bfc4dae elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"bfc4dae\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1289\" height=\"436\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-1-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048 wp-image-19665\" alt=\"Create Discussion 1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-1-1.jpg 1289w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-1-1-300x101.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-1-1-1024x346.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-1-1-768x260.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1289px) 100vw, 1289px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1f54d6a elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1f54d6a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Create Discussion Board on Content Page<\/strong><\/p><p>The other method you can use to create a discussion board, is to create it directly on the content module site.<\/p><ol><li><span style=\"color: #000000\">Select the plus sign anywhere on your module site. A pop box will appear, choose the option &#8220;Create&#8221;<\/span><\/li><\/ol><p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19666\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-2.jpg\" alt=\"Create Discussion 2\" width=\"231\" height=\"314\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-2.jpg 231w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-2-221x300.jpg 221w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 231px) 100vw, 231px\" \/><\/p><p>\u00a02. A panel will open on the left hand side of the screen, scroll down till you find &#8220;Participate and Engagement&#8221;. From there select &#8220;Discussion&#8221;.<\/p><p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19667\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-3.jpg\" alt=\"Create Discussion 3\" width=\"377\" height=\"337\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-3.jpg 377w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-3-300x268.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 377px) 100vw, 377px\" \/><\/p><p>\u00a03. A discussion board will now open. Here you can create your discussion board. On the top row you can enter the title of your discussion board, and in the content page you can add your content. You can add text, images, media, YouTube video, audio and documents.\u00a0<\/p><p>At the top you can:<\/p><ol><li><span style=\"color: #000000\">Auto-generate discussion board. Utilise AI integration on BlackBoard you can create discussion board using prompts. <\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000\">Refresh the page to see if anyone has posted anything new on the discussion board. <\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000\">Follow the discussion board. Every time someone has added a new comment you will receive notification in your activity stream so you are constantly up-to-date. (You can control this through the activity stream settings)<\/span><\/li><\/ol><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19669\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-4-1.jpg\" alt=\"Create Discussion 4\" width=\"1122\" height=\"347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-4-1.jpg 1122w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-4-1-300x93.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-4-1-1024x317.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-4-1-768x238.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1122px) 100vw, 1122px\" \/>\u00a0<\/p><p>You can also change the settings of the Discussion Board to change the way students interact with it.\u00a0<\/p><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19670\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-6.jpg\" alt=\"Create Discussion 6\" width=\"308\" height=\"604\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-6.jpg 308w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2024\/12\/Create-Discussion-6-153x300.jpg 153w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 308px) 100vw, 308px\" \/><\/p><ol><li><span style=\"color: #000000\">You can choose to display the discussion board on the content page.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000\">You can hide the discussion activity until a student has made a first response.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000\">Students can be prevented from making any edits or deleting their previous comments.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000\">Anonymous response &amp; replies. Students can have their name hidden so to keep the discussion more private without having their names shared.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000\">You can also mark this discussion board as you would with an assignment.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000\">You can assign groups within a discussion board. So that group members are discussing the topic within their group. This will not be visible to other groups. Follow this link on <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/creating-group-sets\/\">how to create<\/a><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/creating-group-sets\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"> groups<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/li><\/ol>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-109cada elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"109cada\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-770adfd\" data-id=\"770adfd\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-8a922f1 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"8a922f1\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-cb18cd6\" data-id=\"cb18cd6\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f309f16 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"f309f16\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong><a href=\"#supportop\">Back to Top<\/a><\/strong><\/p><p><span style=\"color: #d1d1d1\"><em>Updated Sept 2025<\/em><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-ea8a8db elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"ea8a8db\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-9bd03f6\" data-id=\"9bd03f6\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How can I offer my students real-time online office hours? How can I create a discussion board to stay in contact with students\u00a0and answer their questions? How can I offer my students real-time online office hours? You can communicate with&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3328","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3328"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21882,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3328\/revisions\/21882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}