Effective Use of Slack and Short Video to Scale Online Learning Communities

Online courses are increasingly popular, giving students the opportunity to study from anywhere in the country or the world. Many online students work full-time, have families, and other personal time constraints which makes online learning ideal for them. A drawback of online courses is that students do not have a feeling of community as in oncampus classes. Further, lecture videos and material are often reused from semester to semester, so students do not feel courses are individualized for them. This paper is an experience report of the advantages and disadvantages using Slack compared to conventional discussion forums. Further, to enhance individualizing courses to student needs, we discuss advantages of weekly introduction, assignment, and feedback videos. These steps have led to a better teaching and learning experience, and a feeling of community for students.