Methods to Stimulate Discussion
In the courses I am teaching, there is a Discussion Board requirement. The student response to these has been anything but overwhelming. I am looking for ideas that I can use as the instructor (but not developer/designer of the discussion questions) to get students more motivated. About half of the questions are close-ended (yes or no), but the other half could stimulate some healthy discussion.
Thank you for whatever help you can provide.
Jennie
I find that the best way to stimulate discussion is to put up an open ended questions. Yes/no questions will not lead to discussion. There must be more to it. If it is a yes/no, then require the student to explain their answer.
When you can connect current events to the topics within the class, it is a great technique. For many subjects, however, that is a little more challenging, but when you can it is great.
I think that making the discussion board questions pertain to current events helps in the discussion participation. This is especially true if it is an event that deals with the topics being discussed.
Great suggestions Jay. I also think that incorporating the readings from the textbook for that week in the questions is also a great way to stimulate discussion.
You need to ask questions that cannot be answered either yes or no, you need to ask in a way that the student must reply in a clearly thought out statement.
That is the trick Michael! The more we can help our students develop their critical thinking skills, the more prepared they will be for their future careers.
What I have seen as being effective are questions that not only focus on the research and application but also address personal experience and personal deduction. Asking students to not only report what they have learned but how to apply that knowledge can be a very powerful tool. Sometimes the trick as the professor is to focus them to make those connections without making those connections for them.
To get students more motivated, I ask them to post substantive replies to other student's DB posts and define what a substantive reply is. I note that a substantive reply requires them to respond with about a paragraph response to a point that another student is making - or to a DQ follow up question that I ask - relating something said to their own personal experience and/or elaborating upon a point made. This strategy has been very effective for me at encouraging maximum participation and information sharing. I tell students that this is the best way we learn from each other as we all have different backgrounds!
Mark McMullen
You have provided some terrific suggestions Kim. I agree it is important to provide students with a rubric explaining how you are grading the discussions. It is my experience that some students think that just responding to a discussion means they will get full points, but it is important to grade on the quality of the response.
It is very important for the instructor to respond to the postings for a variety of reasons. First, it lets students know that you are reading their postings. Second, it provides the teacher an opportunity to ask follow up questions to make sure the student understands the material.
Thanks for your great response Kim.
Jennie:
We also require that our online students participate in weekly discussion forums.
We require an initial post that answers the discussion question and should be posted by Thursday of each week. We then require them to respond to two of their fellow classmates' postings by Sunday of each week.
I provide all students with a discussion rubric that I used when grading weekly discussions.
I also participate in the weekly forums and try to respond to two or three different postings each night and will either provide feedback to each student or ask additional questions if it is not felt that all of the components of the discussion question was answered.
We try to avoid yes or no questions and try to use questions that foster communication amongst myself and my students.
Kim
This is definitely a good practice Amy. It helps to pace the student's activities. We have tried this in university settings and have received negative feedback. Far too many students complained about the lack of flexibility that characterizes online learning. I strongly believe that the reason for the negative feedback is because the institution did not set the student expectations upfront in their marketing matrials, course descriptions, course syllabus etc.
The situation is more manageable when the expectations are set upfront and managed properly. This is a touchy issue and can have severe implications; especially on Instructors' contracts to teach online, and the institution's ability to generate their projected revenue. Some institutions avoid setting expectations in a detailed manner upfront because they feel that it will lower enrollments; so they move forward and then try to do damage control by requesting the Instrucotrs to do whatever it takes to maintain student retention. Thisleads to a significant increase in the number of hours Instructors have to spend online, and of course impact the agreed upon compensation.
Satrohan
I agree. We discussed using it for extra credit as well. We have increased the times per week a student should log in by making several different due dates throughout the week. It seems to break up the last minute questions that often arise Sunday evening.
Amy:
You can significantly reduce the subjectiveness in grading participating in asynchronous Discussion forums by using Rubrics. Personally, I would not use Chat sessions for any learning activity that contributes to a student's final grade.
Satrohan
Our program tried to begin giving points or extra credit for forum involvement. It started as a great idea that we developed but never implemented once we starting talking about the subjectiveness of measuring a grade on forum/chat involvement. It is a difficult process to get students to participate without grades. I had the same issues in the classroom. There are those students who sit up front and answer everything, and those that sit in the back and hope not to be questioned. It is similar, just more noticeable online.
Kathryn,
Thank you for sharing these examples of nonthreatening ways to encourage participation in an online discussion. The responses illustrate points you are making in your class, but do not require heavy reading or homework.
Jennie--
In an online environment I have tried several ideas that seem to work. For example, in a criminal justice class where the lesson's objective is to discuss our perception I do the following. These get AWESSOME responses:
Really Neat---PLEASE RESPOND....IT IS WORTH YOUR TIME...
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING WITHOUT DOING ANY RESEARCH--JUST REPORT WHAT YOU THINK IS TRUE: NO RESEARCH--THIS IS AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE..
A person is more likely to be a victim of homicide than of death by diabetes. True or False?
Kathryn
AT THE END OF THE UNIT I WILL POST THE FOLLOWING:
AWESOME!
I really appreciate each of you "playing along" with me this week. The truth is diabetes is much more deadly than homicide. In 2002, diabetes was responsible for 224,092 deaths, and murder was responsible for 16, 229 deaths.
For those of you who got it right, are you in the health field? Does a close friend or family member have diabetes? Typically the students who know the correct answer have some relationship with the health field or know someone who is diabetic. Without this knowledge, we are subject to the world we know. Each night on television, the media will bring us the tragic story of the drive-by shooting that claimed the life of someone. Hardly ever do they tell us the death of Ms. X as a result of complications of her diabetes.
See how strong the media's influence is on us?
Kathryn
For more information on each see:
http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/DDTSTRS/template/ndfs_2005.pdf
http://www.ojp.gov/bjs/homicide/tables/totalstab.htm
CLASS: PLEASE RESPOND...
JUST TYPE IN WHAT YOU READ....DO NOT THINK ABOUT IT, DO NOT AGONIZE OVER IT...JUST READ THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE QUICKLY AND THEN TYPE WHAT YOU READ...
PARIS IN THE THE SPRING
AT THE END OF THE UNIT I WILL POST THIS TO ALL:
In psychology this term is called "top down processing." It refers to the impact our experiences have on our perception. We "expect" to see "Paris in the spring" so we overlook or simply do not perceive the second "the".
Our thinking (cognitions) impacts our perception of an event.
Consider the following research Subjects in a study watched a video of a car running a stop sign and hitting another car. Subjects were then divided into two groups. Those in Group 1 were asked, "How fast was the first car going when it hit the second car?" The subjects in the second group were asked, "How fast was the first car going when it smashed into the second car?"
Which group estimated about 20 miles per hour faster? Why?
Yes, Group 2 estimated about 20 miles per hour faster than group 1 because their perception was manipulated by the phrasing of the question, "smashed" vs "hit".
Our perception of an event is often altered by our preconceived notions, and even our occupations. For example, police officers are better at telling when someone is on drugs than a normal lay person because he/she has experience with people on drugs. In United States v Ortiz, 422 U.S. 891 (1975), the Supreme Court ruled police officers are better qualified than the average person in the street to evaluate certain facts and circumstances. So, what might not amount to probable cause to the average person on the street might be sufficient for probable cause for a police officer because of the officer s training and experience (Del Carmen, 2004).
Kathryn
Jennie-
If it is a required component of the course, then I would e-mail non participating students and explain their grade and why it is low. Encourage them to get involved to enhance their grade.
I have found that students are usually unaware of this requirement or do not know where to go to find how to post their response.
Finally--get rid of the yes/no questions.
Kathryn
Joanne:
Quite true; many courses can be adapted to supplementary reading materials. Open ended questions usually generate more participation as there is no worng or right answer; and would certainly generate more original thoughts.
Satrohan
I would find the opportunity to ask for a posting of original thoughts using outside researched resourses in response to open ended questions.
Many courses be adaptable to a reccommended readings list outside text requirements
