The inclusion of online discussion in courses can be a very contentious issue. While online discussion is often cited as a means to enrich a distance education course, it can also be the cause of course overload for both the instructor and the students. It has been suggested that online discussion can encourage deeper understanding of course concepts, yet research suggests that, in many instances, this may not occur.
Given these assertions, I’d like you to examine four important questions:
Let’s examine these questions in more detail.
Do you want to give your students a chance to learn about their fellow students, to socialize, to make them feel less isolated? Do you want your students to work collaboratively? Do you envision the discussion as a means to foster a deeper understanding of the subject matter? Do you want the students to connect your subject matter to their own life experiences in order to make linkages? Each of these goals requires a different approach to how online discussion will be used in your course.
Online discussion is not a frill – it consumes time that the student
and instructor could be using for other, more individual pursuits. If
you include a discussion component in your course, then you will most
probably need to scale back on other course components such as readings
or written assignments. There are a number of different activities that
utilize online discussion or collaboration. Here are some that have been
suggested:
Social activities such as icebreakers could be used to introduce students
to each other in the early weeks of the course. A special forum (often
called a café) could be made available for students to socialize and
tell others about themselves and their lives.
Dividing the course participants into smaller groups reduces the online requirements by limiting the number of online posts a student must read. Of course, it is also important to ensure that each group has enough contributing members to keep the discussion active. However, do not evaluate the students by how many posts they produce, since this tends to encourage superficial responses. Quality of the posts, not quantity should be the benchmark.
Although some distance educators are skeptical that online discussion can facilitate deeper learning in students (Kanuka, Rourke & Laflamme, 2007; Rourke & Kanuka, 2007), others have suggested that it is the activities used during online interaction that will determine success. Below are some suggestions for activities that have been used successfully to enhance student learning in an online setting.
Structured instructional activities such as debates allow students to challenge each other’s positions without feeling they are being attacked. People in online settings are often reluctant to challenge others’ positions but debate allows them the freedom to be confrontational without feeling attacked.
A variant on the Think-Pair-Share activity would have students researching individually, then discussing some idea from the course and presenting their conclusions online. Wikis are useful tools for this kind of discussion because both participants can record their ideas then edit the conclusions to their satisfaction. Carrying that one step further, other course participants can ask questions of the pair, or make comments about their conclusions, possibly spurring further revisions by the pair.
Activities such as the analysis of scenarios or case studies provide more structure for students in online discussion. Students can be given roles within the case studies in order to present different points of view. They can also be encouraged to bring in perspectives from their own lives to inform their understandings in the course.
Another instructional activity that has been found to foster deeper learning involves the use of Web Quests, structured inquiry activities that require students to work through structured problems, access online sources and perspectives and arrive at conclusions based on these activities.
Facilitating an online forum can be very challenging. There are a number
of things you, as an instructor, may need to consider when incorporating
online discussion in your class. You do not want to spend too much time
answering questions because this stifles responses from the students;
however, instructors who are not present in the forums leave students
with the impression that they don’t care.
Lim (2004), in an article on Engaging Learners in Online Learning
Environments suggests
the following roles for instructors when facilitating online discussions:
The kinds of questions you ask may often set the tone of the discussion. Akin and Neal have developed a model to help with question construction. They state:
An online instructor must negotiate the balance between being responsive and managing time effectively. To that end, writing sound discussion questions, based on a model, is one way to invite and increase participation and maximize the time element. The CREST+ model, a model for writing effective online discussion questions, covers the cognitive nature of the question, the reading basis, any experiential possibility, style and type of question, and finally ways to structure a good question.
One suggestion for online moderation involves the use of peer moderators for discussion (Rourke & Anderson, 2002). Students are given topics in the course and take leadership in preparing materials and facilitating the online discussion for their topic. Assessment involves the preparation of material as well as their skill in facilitating the forum. Students will need guidance in how to moderate a discussion since this is not a skill that most students will have acquired.
As an instructor, you are probably very aware that students put their time into activities that will earn them the most credit. If you wish the online discussion to foster a deeper understanding of your course, you need to consider how you will evaluate the students’ interactions. Maybe you can ask the students to create reflections about their online experiences. While the reflections per se need not be evaluated, you could give a participation mark for this activity, thereby indicating that you value both the online aspect and the students’ efforts at reflexivity.
However you decide to evaluate, ensure the students have a clear understanding of how they will be evaluated. Rubrics are often used as a means to demonstrate what will be considered during evaluation. Exemplars are very useful to students because they give them an idea of what is considered acceptable in your course. Instructors can post rubrics and provide examples of exceptional work for students to examine.
According to New Horizons for Learning's The Building Tool Room there are four elements that characterize effective assessment of an e-learning experience:
One suggestion arising from others’ experiences in online discussion involves the timing of assignments and discussions. It is important from both a student and teacher perspective that landmarks be set for the components of the course. Students need deadlines to keep the workload from overwhelming them; instructors need them so they don’t end up marking the whole course in the final weeks. If you examine the workloads cooperatively with your students, you might be able to set deadlines that do not conflict with other courses the students may have.
Online assessment - click the link titled Online Assessment on the left menu to find links to many different types of assessment.
Here are three different rubrics to consider:
http://www.onlineteachingtips.org/
Navigate through Pedagogy/Teaching Online/Discussion Boards to find suggestions
for online discussion activities.
http://www.vcu.edu/cte/resources/OTLRG/05_11_Wikis.html
Using Wikis
http://jolt.merlot.org/vol4no2/frydenberg0608.htm
Wikis as a Tool for Collaborative Course Management Mark Frydenberg
Another innovative use of Wikis involves their use as a class
notes repository as well as a collaborative study sheet from which
the instructor could choose potential exam questions.
http://www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing/ecoach/tenbest.html
Teaching Online for the First Time -- The Quick Guide - This resource
includes a list of the ten best practices for teaching online
http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/179/177
An article about nine principles for excellence
in web-based teaching
http://www.emoderationskills.com/?p=66
Top Ten Moderator Skills for 2010
http://www.criticalthinking.org/CTmodel/CTModel1.cfm
An amazing interactive model to explore the facets of critical thinking
Journal of Online Learning and Teaching
http://jolt.merlot.org/index.html
International Review of Research on Open and Distance Learning
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl
The Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology
http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt
Lim, C. P. (2004). Engaging Learners in Online Learning Environments. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 48(4), 16-23
Sandars, J. (2006-7). Twelve tips for effective online discussions in continuing medical education. Medical Teacher, 28: 591-593.
Kanuka, H., Rourke, L. & Laflamme, E. (2007). The Influence of Instructional Methods on the Quality of Online Discussion. British Journal of Educational Technology, 38 (2) 260-271.
Rourke, L. & Anderson, T. (2002). Using Peer Teams To Lead Online
Discussions.
Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 1. [www-jime.open.ac.uk/2002/1]
Rourke, L. & Kanuka, H. (2007). Barriers to Online Critical Discourse. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, v2 n1:105-126.
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