3 pedagogical ways to integrate CN Post with a course

With unique social posting and engagement features, CN Post can be used for online and hybrid courses to achieve student-centered, dynamic online discussions. Instructors and programs may wonder if CN Post is a good fit for their courses and how the tool can be effectively used to foster online engagement. This article will answer these questions and suggest 3 potential ways to implement CN with a course. 

Approach 1: CN Post as a social media page for your course

Difficulty level: Relatively easy

Tools: CN Post 

Target courses: Any subjects. College level. 20 or more students (ideally). 

Target faculty: Have no experience with CN nor much experience with online discussion, but hope to try informal yet authentic online discussions.

How to use: 

• You will run CN Post as an enclosed social media page for your class.
• Come up with a list of things students can post about (e.g. news, research papers, Youtube videos, questions, projects, learning tips), and give detailed explanations, suggested sources, and specific examples. 
• Set up an Anar Seeds goal and tie it with a portion of the course grade. It can be for extra credit. 
• Clarify expectations and set up a few etiquette rules, such as respecting each other, giving constructive feedback, and always posting beneficial content. This can be included in the syllabus, explained in the first class, and shared through your LMS. 
• Spend 10 minutes each day or 1 hour per week to interact with students in CN, making your own posts and commenting on student posts. 

Where to start: follow this guide to set up CN Post (skip STEP6). 

Approach 2: CN Post for guided and free discussions 

Difficulty  level: Medium 

Tools: CN Post + LMS Assignments/Pages

Target courses: Any subjects. All levels. 5 or more students. 

Target faculty: Have some experience with CN or online discussion in general. Would like to give students a space to freely express themselves as well as respond to instructor-prepared prompts. The instructors have no intention to grade each student's post but would rather use the time to interact with them on their posts. 

How to use: 

• Use the Assignments tool or Pages tool in your LMS to distribute weekly discussion prompts. Instruct students to go to CN Post to make their posts with specific hashtags. If you use the Assignments tool, make sure the assignment will require no submission and bear no points. See an example below:

• Encourage students to also post resources, questions, thoughts, and learning progress. This is the free discussion portion. Again, please give students detailed examples and clear rules and expectations. 
• Set up an Anar Seeds goal and tie it with a portion of the course grade. Keep in mind that this score will cover both the guided and free discussions. This means that you will not grade any posts. Students’ CN participation will be automatically graded based on Anar Seeds. 
• Use the time saved from grading posts to interact with students in CN Post, posting course-related interesting content and commenting on student posts. If you encounter low-quality posts, you may reduce Anar Seeds earned on the posts. 

Where to start: 

• Follow this guide to set up CN Post  (skip STEP6). 
• Create Assignments or Pages in your LMS to give specific discussion prompts. 

Approach 3: CN Post for guided and free discussion and more

Difficult level: Advanced 

Difficulty  level: Medium 

Tools: CN Post (switch to the full course view) +CN Task tool

Target courses: Any subjects. All levels. 5 or more students. 

Target faculty: Experienced with CN or willing to learn new platforms. Would like to engage students in a more student-centered space but keep a good balance of instructor guidance and student agency. 

How to use: 

• From Integration Settings, switch to the full course view. 

• Based on what you expect students to post, set up instructor-suggested discussion topics/hashtags. 
• Use the CN Task tool to provide detailed instructions. You can organize tasks by weeks, topics, due dates, etc. Create SmartLinks to resources and specific posts. See an example below:

  Tip: the resources and information you share here create a “reason” for students to return to this social discussion space. 

• Set up an Anar Seeds goal and tie it with a portion of the course grade. You do not grade student posts. Students’ entire CN participation will be tracked by Anar Seeds and sent back to your LM’ Gradebook. You can also get students’ Anar Seeds from Roster and manually enter or import the scores. 
• Besides managing Tasks, spend 10 minutes each day or 1 hour per week interacting with students in discussions, posting interesting things, and commenting on student posts. 

Where to start: 

• Follow this guide to set up CN Post (must complete STEP6). 
• Create Tasks to give students detailed instructions, discussion prompts, and resources.