When using a game or quizzing each other type questions that will require students to participate in class are the most usful in my opinion.
Hi Joel- Thanks for a very well written and comprehensive post. Clearly you are a very effective online instructor! Best wishes - Susan
Thanks-regimental coins, etc. I think you're probably my first reply. All of what we teach, coach and mentor are current military planning principles at the Joint Service level. Anything we can use to build rapport in a "cultural" environment goes along way.
Teaching in an on-line environment, most of my questioning techniques are used in either asynchronous discussion board posting responses or "live" office hour or tutoring sessions working on specific method applications.
With the discussion board interaction I like to use a combination of open and closed questions in my replies to the students initial responses to the question at hand. In some instances, I will just try to get them to expand upon their initial answers or try to redirect them if their initial response was not fully on-target; Giving them a lot of latitude in their follow-up reply. In some instances I will ask a very pointed follow-up question that may involve an example based on the material in their reply that has a singular correct response. I find that incorporating a mixture helps try to simulate the dialogue that would otherwise occur in a traditional classroom setting. The only issue with this is the time-delay in the response postings provided by both myself and the students. Discussion threading does allow great conversations and discussions to be facilitated and built upon, but the flow is not the same :).
When working with students "live" during office hours, my questions are heavily open ended. Even in the cases where a specific answer is required, I will generally not phrase my questions to give them the choices at hand. Some students come with a question about a problem looking for me to just give them the specific steps toward the solution, but I want to make them think about the process for themselves. I will guide the direction they take through the questions that I pose, but I never walk them through the required steps for the solution, I have them walk me through it :). On some occasions, if a student is really struggling, I will change tact and we will work through the method together where my questions will be more closed in order to keep the student making progress. I provide praise and positive reinforcement through each step of problem, but once we reach the end, I will change up the problem and ask them to walk me through the method with that one.
It doesn't take too long in the quarter for students to catch on that they will not be coming to office hours for me to provide them with answers, but for them to understand how to provide me with solutions :).
Hi Al - Thanks for your post to the forum. You shared some excellent ideas for enlivening online discussions - Thanks!! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Hi Phillip - Thanks for your post to the forum. It really seems like so "Elementary School", but I use the little treat rewards with my adult students also -and they love it! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Reward the very first questioner/response with a small prize, total animation, praise but not too much and something they relate to like something from their culture-specific worth like a brand named candy bar they can share with their desk mates.
To start class discussions, I will usually start with a real world scenario, and then I will ask what they think they would do in that particular situation. In our field, things are not always black and white. Most of the students will choose the best path or their peers will usually make recommendations based off of the first response. This is a great way to talk about proper etiquette in the studio because the students walk through the problem or situation verbally, and so the solution tends to click faster in their heads.
Hello All,
I hope your day is going well! Module 2 provides some great suggestions for questioning techniques. I have used all of them in one form or another, especially the Socratic method. For this discussion question, I will mention two strategies I use for my online courses. They can be used and/or adapted for ground courses and grade level.
Strategy 1: Every week there are discussion questions in my online courses. I always post daily follow up questions based on the flow of the discussion, and those follow up questions typically address the opposite viewpoints expressed in the class. The purpose is to get students to analyze issues from multiple perspectives and clarify their own views.
Strategy 2: I use something called "Take Away Points". At the end of each discussion week, I start out by posting my own take away points. Take away points is simply something new learned, something that stood out for me, something that I might want to research later, or simply a statement or two what one takes away from the discussion. I then ask students to post their own take away points. What ultimately in most cases ends up happening is having a nice summary of the discussion for the week posted in one thread.
Thank you and have a great day!
Al
Hi Andrew - Thanks for your post to the forum. I agree - getting those discussions going can indeed be challenging, however, as you mention, once the "ball is rolling" the conversation is amazing!
Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Since a few of the classes that I teach are setup as guided discussions establishing foundational questioning techniques tends to be a regular trend for me. Initially what I do is establish a series of open ended questions that cover the topics that we have covered. Each of these main open ended questions have supporting questions under it. The questions that I ask after that are generally based off of the student's reaction to these questions. Since I deal quite often in the theoretical realm, this is not hard to do. Questions such as "what do you think his/her thought process was when this decision was made, or when this action was conducted" and "if you were in their shoes what would you do" generally spark enough debate among students to make for a good discussion. Immediate student participation from my initial questions usually helps fuel the discussion, even though it may be a bit hard at first to get the ball rolling.
Some techniques I've used involved recalling of previous work that the student has already done. By asking them questions about something they've completed and relating it to what we are talking about makes them more comfortable in responding to my current question on the current topic. This works for me a lot of the time due to the fact that I teach accounting and accounting basically involves everything from the beginning.
Having the students in the class go the the dry eraser board, and have them write there questions, so the entire class can participate.
Hi Arcadio- Thanks for your post to the forum. Your method of getting your students to participate is great! I also liked the "Mousetrap and Ping Pong Ball" analogy. (-:
Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Hi Rajesh - Thanks for your post to the forum. Your method of involving students in the assessments of lab work is great! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
My students are generally adult learners. A technique I've used to increase student participation in question sessions is to weave some detail of their collective experience and background (gathered and noted from the initial introductions) as a basis to develop answers to my rather divergent questions. With a little patience, time, and probing, viola. Once the first response is offerred, duly praised and appreciated, other students tend to jump-in to contribute their personal insight. Often it's necessary to apply some control as in through involving the quiet ones. Otherwise, question sessions, like ping-pong balls in a room full of mousetraps, can stray off topic.
Most of the class are lab based - where they design and we do a critique - so each student comes and criques about other students works - i ask them which is bad, how it can be made better and also pick which is good and ask the reason why its good..as you involve students they get a sense of which is a good or bad design..last question i ask is your design good or bad from the rest of the students - doing a self critique is very important, that way they dont do the mistakes again.
Hi Robert - Thanks for your post to the forum. I agree- it is important to have students understand the relevance of what we are teaching them and be able to demonstrate how it will affect their lives/careers. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Hi Roy - I think that giving students the extra time to think about a discussion question is excellent! It will give the shy students time to feel more confident about their response and overall improve the quality of the discussion. Susan
