I agree that the more students that you respond to--the better! Students will feel better about their posts and better about the class.
Alice,
There are many different types of questions that can be used on discussion boards. It's good to vary them to keep the discussion alive and well.
Thanks for your input.
Elizabeth,
It is good to involve all students even if you have to require them to post something at some point. I put students on the discussion board as leaders of the discussion and rotate the job duties. That's helps.
Asking rhetorical questions can get them thinking. Asking probing questions about the content or the posts the student has already put up can get them to write more.
I continually ask these kinds of questions. I also post related comments with websites for more information.
Asking for clarification in a post can sometimes get several students to answer. I like this. They will help explain things for each other.
I also summarize what has been posted so far and ask them their opinion. These work for me.
