I’m finishing my second semester of teaching Legal Environment of Business, an introductory undergraduate business law course, asynchronously. One of the challenges of an asynchronous course is creating a sense of community among students. I’ve previously blogged about using negotiation exercises in my business law courses (here and here). In this post, I want to share with readers how I’ve continued to use such materials in my asynchronous courses to promote experiential learning and to create a sense of community.
Canvas is the learning management system for my courses. My asynchronous courses are organized into weekly modules. Students can find all materials for a specific week (assigned readings, videos, assignments etc.) in that week’s module. The feedback I’ve received indicates that students find this an easy to follow format. So, for any week in which there is a negotiation exercise, the students’ role assignments, the negotiation materials, and the assignment itself will be posted in that week’s module. For each exercise, I use Canvas groups to randomly organize students into negotiation teams. Use of Canvas groups also facilitate students’ ability to contact each other, coordinate their negotiation, and complete their assignment. I group students into a different
