I am Karen Parrish Baker. I teach adult and higher education leadership masters degree program at Morehead State University (KY) in the U.S.A. I have taught online using Bb for three years both as hybrid and totally online courses. I have been pretty much a lurker with an occasional posting on SCoPE for two years.
I am reacting to Jim at SDSU's posting. I found it difficult to use the synchronous tools/activities because one of the reasons students take these courses is because of incompatible schedules which make it a challenge to find a common time for 20-25 graduate students to meet online. For those of you who have had success with this, I would appreciate any strategies and suggestions that would be helpful and strategic in utilizing these tools to maximize learning.