My Favorite Feature of Blackboard

I am probably unaware of all the bells and whistles that are available in Blackboard to facilitate classroom and lab instruction but there is one feature I love.  The simple effective feature is the announcements option for the home page, or other pages I set up inside assignment "folders."  It harkens back to the days when I was a student in K-12 when the teacher would write the day's assignments on the board as well as those that will be covered in the next class. 

I use the announcement feature to first welcome students to the class that starts for them this coming Monday and let them know if there is a required text(s) and where to get them.  I then use the announcement feature every class thereafter to remind students to contact me if they have any unanswered questions or confusion about assignments that we covered that day as well as remind them of key assignments for the next class.

I have found this simple tool a great way to communicate with the students in between classes and it seriously knocks down the "I didn't know" or "I forgot" because the basic information is routinely posted for them all throughout the entire semester.  To be honest, it also helps to keep me straight on what I am doing especially in the fall semester when I am teaching 4 classes with some 400 students.

If you have favorite features you use in Blackboard to faciliate student learning send them my way and I will share with others on future blog posts.