Design with a PURPOSE.
Including discussion activities may seem daunting. Begin by considering the PURPOSE of each discussion activity. Unless each of your activities has a clear PURPOSE, it could lead to dull chores and frustrations for your students, rather than promoting learning.
- Begin by considering the learning outcomes of your course, the unit, or the concept.
- The objective of each discussion activity should be aligned with the course content or the outcome.
An online discussion can be used to:
1. Build Community
One of the primary reasons of including online discussion activities is to build a community of learners. This tool allows students to become part of an active learning community, rather than just an independent learner completing and submitting assignments with no real peer interaction. Social learning within a community has been found to decrease the feeling of isolation and dropout rates. (Xu & Jaggars, 2011)
This is the typically recommended activity for the 1st week, whereby students will get to know one another while learning how to use the discussion tools. In addition to the standard "Tell us about yourself...," some type of icebreaker activity helps students to build a community in a fun and non-threatening way. (We are currently working on the list and will make it available soon. If you have suggestions, please share and we will add it to our list!)
This is the typically recommended activity for the 1st week, whereby students will get to know one another while learning how to use the discussion tools. In addition to the standard "Tell us about yourself...," some type of icebreaker activity helps students to build a community in a fun and non-threatening way. (We are currently working on the list and will make it available soon. If you have suggestions, please share and we will add it to our list!)
2. Demonstrate understanding of key concepts
Using discussion to review key concepts allows students to learn from one another and share ideas. When students submit an assignment directly to a teacher, this sharing of ideas is lost.
3. Reflection
Reflective activities require students to share a synthesis of the learning experience, or to describe how a situation or experience has personal value to them. These kinds of activities should allow for honest and open responses.
4. Build consensus
These require students to work together to create a product or to come to an agreement on some topic.
5. Promote critical thinking
Through the use of higher order questioning techniques and activities (see the matrix on Examples page), the discussion board can be used to encourage critical thinking skills. š80% - 85% of what students learn by higher-level questioning (requiring higher-level cognitive processes) is retained. (Batson 1981, cited in Muilenburg & Berge, 2006)
Resources
Xu, D., & Jaggars, S. S. (2011). Online and Hybrid Course Enrollment and Performance in Washington State Community and Technical Colleges. CCRC Working Paper No. 31. Community College Research Center, Columbia University.
Muilengburg, L., & Berge, Z. (2006). A Framework for Designing Questions for online learning. The American Journal of Distance Education.
Xu, D., & Jaggars, S. S. (2011). Online and Hybrid Course Enrollment and Performance in Washington State Community and Technical Colleges. CCRC Working Paper No. 31. Community College Research Center, Columbia University.
Muilengburg, L., & Berge, Z. (2006). A Framework for Designing Questions for online learning. The American Journal of Distance Education.