A Complete Guide to Online Discussions
Online discussions are an excellent way to supplement more traditional lectures and discussions. An online forum allows students to communicate with you and each other, pose questions, and participate in peer discussions. This guide will provide you with pedagogical guidelines for online forums and instructions for using the online discussion tools available to U-M faculty.
Pedagogical Guidelines for Online Forums
Gina Maria Funaro and Frances Montell of the Stanford Learning Lab published a paper in ALN Magazine in which they discuss the usefulness of online forums. Funaro and Montell also provide a set of pedagogical guidelines for instructors which are reprinted below. The original paper can be found at ALN Magazine's web site or in the December 1999 (Volume 3, Issue 2) edition of the publication.
Guidelines for Using Online Discussion
- Plan for Forum Use Before the Course Begins
It is important for instructors to think carefully about how the Forum [online discussion] will be used in the course and what purpose it will serve. The faculty and section instructors should all be involved in this planning so that they share a similar perspective on how the Forum will be used. If the students' postings will contribute to their course grades, think about whether they will be evaluated on the quantity of postings, the quality of postings, or both. Also plan how the Forum will be presented to students, and whether there will be any in-class demonstrations. As one instructor suggests, "You need to have specific tasks to give the students some direction. You can't just tell them 'Discuss freely.' You need to think about how the Forum complements other course elements."
- Schedule Forum Assignments in Relation to Lectures and Sections
Remember to leave adequate time for students to make postings, respond to others' comments, and read through the discussion before class. It is also important for section leaders to have adequate time after an assignment is due to read through the students' responses and plan section accordingly. Incorporate special Forum assignments into the course's requirements, and make sure these are spread out evenly throughout the quarter. Coordinate the due dates of Forum assignments with those of papers and exams; otherwise students may neglect the Forum assignment.
- Refer to Forum Discussions in Class
Instructors can relate Forum discussions to other course elements by citing Forum comments in lecture or section. Students appreciate knowing that faculty read and respond to their ideas. Keeping up with the Forum can be time-consuming, however, so be sure to set realistic expectations for how many postings you will read and respond to each week and make these expectations clear to the students.
- Provide Students With Assistance in Leading Online Discussions
To increase students' level of success as discussion leaders, instructors need to model ways to produce a lively, constructive discussion at the beginning of the quarter. Instructors can hand out some example questions or printouts of interesting threads from previous Forums. Instructors in the study learned that the best questions for initiating ongoing discussions were open-ended enough to allow students to present their personal perspectives but were focused on students' interpretations of the texts so as not to stray too far afield.
- Summaries of Forum Postings in Section Are Not Necessary
It is important to bring the online discussion into the class, but several instructors found that simply requiring students to summarize the Forum discussion during section was not very useful. Instead they recommend that students be assigned to facilitate the Forum discussion each week and to bring in a few interesting ideas or discussion questions without summarizing the whole discussion. The emphasis should be on presenting new ideas or moving the Forum discussion forward, rather than recapping what has already been discussed outside of class.
- Avoid Redundancy of Forum Assignments
The Forum has several unique features that make it well suited to play a particular role in the course. Try to develop Forum assignments that build on these features and that do not reiterate in-class activities or other assignments. Instructors found that extending these activities into the classroom was unproductive.
- Limit Your Expectations for Initial Implementation
Successful integration of technology comes with personal experience. Instructors should not be too ambitious in their expectations for the Forum the first time they use it. They will be better prepared to successfully integrate it into a particular course after experiencing aspects that work and do not work well. An instructor offered this advice: "The first time you may be disappointed because you don't really know how to use it as a tool. So don't be put off."
- Start With a Non-graded First Assignment
Starting the course with a non-credit assignment such as a short biography can be a non-threatening, interesting way to get students on line and help create a feeling of community.
- Do Not Be Afraid to Make Changes
If the Forum is not being used as expected, the instructor should talk to the students about it and make changes if necessary. Schedule a brief review or evaluation several weeks into the term to assess how students are using the Forum, how they feel about it, and how well your expectations are being met.
- Student Forum Requirements Should Be Ongoing
If told to lead one thread a quarter without an additional weekly requirement, students do not get anyone but the computer-savvy students replying to their thread. On the other hand, requiring students to post too often may cause resentment and discourage voluntary participation above the minimum required. Short assignments once a week should be an adequate amount to encourage participation.
- Regularly Browse the Forum and Refer to Postings in Class
Regular reading of the Forum and integration of ideas from the Forum into class discussions shows students that the instructor takes the Forum seriously. When the instructor refers to a Forum posting but does not summarize its content in lecture, students realize that the Forum is an integral part of the class in which they need to participate, just like lectures and readings. Soon ideas and discussions from section, lecture, and online will blur into one. Besides, students appreciate having their ideas cited.
- Play a Facilitator Role Online
Participate in the Forum enough to show interest, but let students dominate. It is important pedagogically to try not to adjudicate or contribute a definitive answer. One instructor offered the following example, "I tried to strike a balance between contributing enough so they knew I was around and involved but to blend into the group and be unobtrusive. I didn't necessarily participate every week but tried every couple of weeks in each section to post something. My postings were things like: 'That reminds me of…' or 'Look at this other thread because it's really relevant…'
You should make sure that you communicate your expectations for an online discussion to your students. It's probably best to make a handout at the beginning of the semester and distribute it along with the syllabus. If you'd like to see an example of such a handout, click here.
Using U-M Resources to Host Online Discussions
Both Coursetools and WorkTools offer an online discussion tool. You should use Coursetools for your classes and WorkTools for your collaborative research projects.
Using the Discussion Feature in Coursetools
A discussion area, sometimes called a forum or bulletin board, is a way to organize conversations in written form. People communicate at different times in this type of discussion area. It is not like a ³chat² feature, in which people converse at the same time.
When you click the Discussions button in Coursetools two discussion categories already appear: "Q&A about this site" and "Introductions". Discussions are threaded, meaning that each discussion begins with a main topic and all the responses relating to the topic go with the topic, branching out like a tree structure.
You will probably want to add a new discussion topic for your class! Click the Discussions button, then select Make New. A form will pop up asking you to fill in the following fields:
Category
(Choose a category from the list provided.)
Subject
(Type in the subject of the discussion.)
Type your item here
(This is where you type a message to your students or a question to open the discussion.)
Readers
(Don't worry about this feature! It's for students.)
Choose resources to link to this document
(You can link the discussion thread to any of your resource items.)
And/or upload a file
(You can upload a file or link to a URL here.)
Save options
(Choose whether you want to save this item as a draft by choosing Preview or Post.)
Click the Preview button or the Post button to finish. OK, you've started the discussion, but how to continue it? If you want to respond to your students' posts in the discussion click the Respond button and type your message into the form that pops up.
Using the Chat and Discussion Features in WorkTools
An online "chat" is a virtual area in which people converse at the same time. A discussion, on the other hand, is a way to organize conversations in written form. People communicate at different times in this type of discussion area. (More like a bulletin board than a telephone conversation.) WorkTools offers both Chat and Discussion features though your Worksite administrator may have decided to install only one feature and not the other.