Lesley Farnham

I think that you should offer a mix of both formats to appeal to the various learning styles out there.

Having a lecture will greatly appeal to the auditory learner as well as those who may be more introverted. The open discussion following to bring in the extroverted folks is wise.

Having a Q&A session may be very appealing to your extroverted students or those who have a higher level of need for understanding before proceeding. I would suggest that you have a topic for the session though over a full open general Q&A so that you yourself can better prepare to assist students too. I would also encourage you to have the sessions like this be collaborative. So that anyone can share and contribute.

Lawrence Garner

I also teach in an online environment. The first challenge is to get student to come to the lecture. Our institution does not require that students attend the online lectures, either live nor listen to the archived recordings. So, I try to encourage the students to participate, particulaly since I can offer assistance during this time, for upcoming assignments. I do like your idea of the Q&A session. I know that students want to engage in class, and providing them the opportunity to 'speak up' adds to the quality of their learning experience.

Carolyn Decker

Michael,
Definitely I would go with a questions and answer format because this will get your students to express what they learned and be able to ask questions if possible. You can also see who really understood the questions and how they understood it much like an assessment of the learning levels of the class.
Carolyn

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Hi Michael,
I would suggest that you highlight some key points and then have a Q&A session. This should give your students enough content to start having an active discussion session.
Gary