Some Blanchard courses include online discussion activities. Learners can post their comments and receive replies from others in their cohort.
Discussions can be combined with other assignments, such as asking learners to watch a video or read an article, followed by posting their thoughts. Alternatively, discussions can be enabled as standalone activities without accompanying assignments.
Note that discussions are structured to align with each specific page or activity within a course, rather than functioning as an open discussion board where learners can initiate new topics or threads.
Figure 1
Project/Account Trainers can monitor discussions, post replies, and delete postings if necessary. Postings will appear under the project’s Preview button (Figure 1-1), followed by navigating to the Discussions tab of the course (applicable to both the Corporate Portal and Trainer Portal).
Trainers can use the View all discussions button on the bottom of the project’s Overview tab (Figure 1-2). This is similar to the Preview noted above, with the exception that it will take you directly to the Discussions tabs of the course.
Figure 2
Discussions will appear both under the Stream section and the Activity Messages area (Figure 2):
- Stream: This shows all comment activity in chronological order without the added context related to the activity housing the comment.
- Activity Messages: This organizes the comments based on the activity names for added context.
Alternatively, trainers can navigate to the Activities tab of the course preview and navigate between activities/discussions.
Posting Announcements
Figure 3
In addition to discussions, administrators and trainers can post one-way communications using the Announcements feature. Announcements are displayed under the Discussion tab of the course (Figure 3). Learners can view both current and past announcements from this section.
Announcements can be useful for communicating cohort-specific information. Examples are changes related to training logistics, and greetings and comments from trainers. Any comments posted using the Announcement feature will be documented in the course and visible at a later point.
Similar to discussions, announcements include a notification feature. Email notifications are sent once a day to learners with any new announcements.
To post an announcement:
Figure 4
- To go the project’s Overview tab.
- Locate the Announcements pane in the lower right-hand side of the page (Figure 4).
- Enter your text for the announcement, followed by selecting Post.
All previously posted announcements will be listed below this pane. Administrators and trainers can delete previous postings*.
*At this time, it is not possible to edit existing comments in both discussions and announcements. However, comments can be deleted and re-added. Learners can delete their own comments, while administrators and trainers can delete any comment from any individual.
Discussion Notifications
Learners will automatically receive daily notifications of new discussions as well as anyone who is listed under the Project Team section of a project (ex: Project Trainer). Account Trainers who are not on project team and wish to also receive daily notifications of discussion activity may ask an administrator to add them to the project team.