DISCUSSION THREAD MANAGEMENT
When questions are posed to students for response, there must be guidelines.
1) THree or more original posts that answer the initial questions.
2) Three or four posts, responding to a classmate.
3) Redirect students back to the original questions, if they go off
on a tangent.
4) Instructor should guide students to explore the topic, in depth.
5) Students should learn more through the discussion, by writing
a "conclusion" posting.
You must also watch out for "plagaiarism" in the threads as well.
Samantha,
Now, many of the programs will let students submit before they turn the paper in for the assignment. I have used the plagiarism software that way. I also spot check discussion board by dropping them into Google. I do embarrass students sometimes. Also you appoint students to monitor certain discussion. Saying this, I think you have to educate students about about plagiarism more in that I don't think some students quite understand it in different environments.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Many schools need to provide greater detection for plagiarism in threads. In larger classes these can be difficult for an instructor to detect. Once detected, these can be embarassing for the student. It would be great if boards can notify the student upon attempting to submit an item that it is unoriginal work, thus saving the student embarassment and helping other students who may see that the submission and know that it is plagiarized from getting the idea that they can do the same.
Susan,
Great techniques! You do have to provide them with samples. They are just not used to articulating their thoughts in that way; not even in f2f!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Guiding the students to explore the topic in depth is an important goal- and a difficult one. I find that if I respond with more open-ended questions that helps facilitate deeper discussion. Often I have students who are simply not that "wordy", therefore I use many examples of what I mean when asking for more "in depth" responces.
Nancy,
Great point! Most people don't think about plagiarism in a thread. I also think it is so important to "close" the discussion. Well done!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
