When we reached out to students, we found that only 67% of respondents receive feedback on work, 42% had missed deadlines, and the discussion board was the area that caused the greatest frustrations.
Our revised direction put a focus on deliverables and discussion to help prevent missed and late work, while making it as easy as possible to participate in course discussions and obtain feedback from professors. A unified calendar of events, plus quick stats on discussion activity allow students to know when they have work do at a glance.