The discussion method is the most popular teaching technique used in online courses.
Online discussion offers several advantages to face-to-face classroom interactions:
- Reserved or shy students may feel less vulnerable communicating their thoughts online than they would face-to-face in the classroom.
- All students have an equal opportunity to participate in the discussion.
- Students can explore a variety of perspectives shared online as they construct their own understanding of the material. If part of a message is missed or not understood, it can be revisited at any time.
- Responses tend to be more thoughtful and reflective than communications found in chats or even e- mail.
- Discussions can be archived and revisited and printed at a later time.
However, if you want to initiate an online discussion, you have to think, plan, and carefully monitor it so that it becomes successful.
- Characteristics of Effective Discussions
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Support course/assignment-learning objectives. Keying topics to the readings, exercises and assignments for a particular week helps keep students focused on what is important and reinforces concepts that are being learned.
Generate interest. Give students a reason to stay engaged by asking interesting and challenging questions.
Facilitate thought, not “just the facts.” The construction of your questions requires a lot of forethought. Avoid broad topic threads (i.e., What do you think of the Spanish Civil War?) and factual questions for which there is only one answer. Include guided discussion questions, promote critical thinking through Socratic questioning, ask students to compare and contrast, connect to prior knowledge, etc.
Can be applied to everyday life or professional goals. A good and preferred teaching strategy is providing opportunities for application of new information to students’ personal and professional lives. Discussion questions of this character can also allow everyone to demonstrate what they know and let others learn from them.
Provide clear, explicit instructions. Provide students with a list on the type of response, both initial postings and replies, you expect. Provide examples (exemplary responses). Take time to delineate each step of each individual discussion assignment.
Receive points and/or graded. The most effective way to promote student participation is to make it required and graded.
Reflect a percentage of the course grade that is appropriate, feasible, and significant. It is recommended that discussion is between 10 to 40 percent of total grade.
Provide a rubric or other evaluation tool that details the evaluation process. When students know exactly how they will be evaluated they tend to live up to those expectations. Evaluation tools help foster effective discussion by decreasing student anxiety and defensiveness.
Require reply to other participants. Encourage students to interact with each other, not just with you.
Include effective facilitation. Think student-centered discussions! Do you want students to meet your expectations for online participation? They will follow your lead – involve yourself, participate. Allow time for students to respond to each other, before commenting.
Source: Tracey Smith. “Discussions: Importance, Design, Facilitation, and Evaluation” Pointers and Clickers (November / December 2002).
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Strategies for a Successful Online Discussion
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Leading a discussion is different from lecturing and requires the ability to ask good questions and facilitate a conversation without dominating:
Make your teaching presence felt. Suggestions for how to facilitate and direct discussions: identify areas of agreement/disagreement, seek to reach consensus/understanding, acknowledge student contributions, asses the efficacy of the process, present content and questions, focus the discussion, confirm understanding, diagnose misperceptions, summarize the discussion, respond to technical concerns, inject knowledge from diverse resources.
Be prepared to refocus a discussion that drifts too far from the topic or from productive interchange. You may not be actively participating in the discussion, but you have to step in when a conversation moves too far off track. Carefully consider your wording when you redirect the discussion so as not to discourage contributions.
Give feedback. Provide plenty of timely, constructive, and quality feedback, and where appropriate, add to a student’s answer engaging them in more dialogue. When the instructor participates in the discussion, providing critique, encouragement, and feedback, students cannot help but become more involved. For example, thank students publicly for comments contributed to the discussions that show particular insight or depth and encourage participants who have submitted shallow responses to consider a more in-depth contribution by asking for specific details pertaining to their posting, or for an example from their workplace.
Create a social atmosphere, which is friendly and enthusiastic. Model the style and tone you want your students to use in their postings. Use discussion forums to promote collegiality, for introductions and interpersonal communication not related to the content of the course (Bulletin Board, Meet & Greet, Online Cafe, Gab-fest, Gripe-fest, The Suggestion Box, Antidepressants—jokes). This same forum can be used later during the course for students to post messages of interest that may not be directly related to the weekly class discussions.
Teach discussion netiquette. Publish a list of protocols or rules for your students to follow. This will help maintain order in the discussion and facilitate clear communication. Show your students how you expect them to behave online by setting the tone in your communications with them in the discussion forum.
Be aware of different cultural patterns and communication styles. Students from some cultures may not relate well to questions requiring volunteered responses. In this case, a question like, “Anyone care to comment on this?” might be changed to “Please post your response to the topic by Wednesday.” Humor is culturally specific and may not be perceived the same by everyone.
Provide a variety of activity-types allowing for differences in learning styles. Finally, some students may not feel comfortable sharing personal experiences while others find this process quite natural. You can respect these differences by offering options to your students in the way you frame your questions. For example, “Can you relate this to your own experience or one you have heard or read about?”
Source: Bill Pelz, “(My) Three Principles of Effective Online Pedagogy,” JALN, Volume 8, Issue 3 (June 2004).
Download Facilitating Successful Online Discussions (infographic).
