Josh. Thanks for this suggestion. I'm going to implement the email reminder to students who I've responded to in the DB.
Keep in mind the: DB Pledge: I will not begin a response to students by saying: "I really loved your post." Most students get it.
Gary. I also require students to support their statements. In the guidelines that I write for the DB each week I include the following:
Research is required for all written assignments. You must indicate knowledge of what you are learning by using the terms, phrases and concepts from that research.
This tends to ward off opinion laden posts.
To encourage substantive participation I provide an example of a "substantive" response to a classmate. In addition, I provide an example of a response that does not fulfill the requirements for substantive.
The strategy that I find most effective is the Socratic Method of responding. I engage students by asking, How? What if? Can you explain further...? Many students will take the opportunity to engage further. Of course, there are those who don't. I also provide a great deal of positive feedback and encouragement, indicating that they are "getting it." This makes for a respectful and inspiring environment.
Engaging the Avoidant or Dependent learner is a challenge and it's faced each week! I also highlight my comments to let bring more visibility to them. I've begun including links and images in the DB to get students to participate by checking out the info or visually getting them motivated.
I like the idea of using humor and emoticons (although as an artist the emoticons make me wince!) LOL.
Posting reminders on a frequent basis in the DB especially on the requirements for in text citation and a list of references is important. I remind students that the DB is an academic forum not a facebook friending opportunity.
Recently I've included the DB Pinky Promise and ask students to take the pledge that they will NOT begin their DB comments with, "I really liked your post." In a fun way I hope to convey the academic rigor required.
I have found it challenging to engage learner on the discussion boards. Some students just aren’t that interested (or so it seems), while others make multiple postings and are very interactive.
To encourage students to go beyond the minimum requirements, I do the following:
1) post engaging comments daily
2) post a weekly ‘helpful/interesting’ link which relates to the DB topic, but gets the students to look at the topic from another angle
3) Outside the DB, during live chats or announcements, I remind students that their DB postings should be substantive and give examples of what that means
4) For students who are only doing the minimum, or less than the minimum, I have emailed them privately and asked them to provide more input on the DB and have specifically outlined what I am looking for in their posting
Karen Bisset
Unfortunately, some learners are never going to go beyond their minimal requirements. However, what I have found to be effective in these types of situations is to offer an alternative point of view (perhaps even a devil's advocate POV) and ask them a challenging question to further explore this issue. For the types of students identified in this DQ, this is a method that has worked well in the past. I have found these students often fit in one of two categories -- (1) students who already feel very knowledgeable on the topic and therefore might find further discussion a waste of time and (2) students who just don't feel comfortable on the topic or simply don't see the value in discussion. Challenging both of these types of students has worked well for me in the past -- although it doesn't work with everybody.
This is also one of the challenges that I have had with online discussion boards. One thing I've tried to do to lure them back to the discussion board is to send them an email that basically says, "I saw your post, and I've posted a response (or questions) as a reply to what you wrote. I'm interested to hear more on the topic from you." I've been doing that because in the past when I just respond to their posts, nothing happens because as you say, they just don't bother to come back after doing the minimum. The email has helped a little bit.
Apart from that, I encourage the students to keep the discussion going. As part of the grading criteria, they are expected to respond in a meaningful way to their classmates. So, in the gradebook comments, I will encourage them to ask more questions or give more of their opinion when addressing classmates instead of just posting: "I love your post!"
And then I do the same as part of my strategy. I read the students' posts and respond to individuals by giving a counterpoint to their ideas to open up more discussion. Or I ask further questions. Or I direct them to similar material that was discussed.
Students must be able to connect with the material in the sense that they are able to see how a discussion applies or appeals to them personally.
A student will post more than the norm of responses when they pick a genuine interest in the discussion, and when they can relate or correlate via personal experience. The instructor's goal should be to create ways that students can see the significance of the discussion and how it might apply to them. Including current events or widely known examples/illustrations is a good way to do this.
In some cases the thread topic can be quite bland. This can lead to skimpy responses by students. We should carefully examine the way in which the thread topic is constructed and seek to present the topic in an engaging manner.
For example, I had a relatively dry topic (actions of the Fed re: setting of interest rate) that needed to be discussed. In order to encourage more robust responses, I asked students to not only to discussed the Fed's role in setting rates but also asked students to discuss what they felt is the impact of the Fed's decisions on their own personal finances (i.e. help in getting a low interest rate mortgage, inflation, etc.) There was much greater activity in the forum by making the topic relative to their lives.
John
Good idea about incorporating it into the gradebook. I will do the same!
Christina,
Excellent instructional approach - modeling the desired behavior. Well done. Thank you for sharing these terrific details.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Elizabeth, I do something similar--I change the color of my text in my posts--doing so allows students to easily identify my posts.
I also highlight questions as you do and remind students when I post such questions that engaging in such points allows them the chance to demonstrate quality of understanding of the topic.
In the grade book feedback I encourage students to engage to show a greater understanding of the topic if they are not doing so. I remind them that quality of engagement, and consistency of participation, allows them a greater chance to show understanding.
Hi David,
I want to continue with this point, it is a good one. A lot of students will just stop at "I agree, good job!" Very few will actually disagree with their classmates, or if they do, they will go a bit overboard. I think it is a lack of understanding the difference between a professional disagreement and a personal attack. This is why from the very first week I strongly encourage my students away from statements like "I feel", "I believe", and "I think". These statements open them up to being defensive when someone does not agree with their beliefs. Instead we try to use "It seems that", "Philosophically", "According to this theory", and so on.
I also try to teach by example. Even in my ground classes I encourage students to challenge me. I tell them to poke holes in my arguments, but to be sure they can back up their statements. This gets them used to professional debate and away from personal feelings. Especially when they see their professor calmly addressing each students' argument, not only taking nothing personal but having a good time.
Thanks for the conversation!
Robert,
Excellent facilitation. Thank you for sharing.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Engaging students in a discussion can be challenging at times. The strategies that I employ are to post early and give students additional pointers on the discussion board topic. I also made it a habit to respond to student’s posts daily. This strategy seems to motivate my students to be active in the discussions.
Robert Schuetz
Stephanie,
Good approach. Thank you for sharing.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
I agree. A number of students do the minimum and then stop reading. Throughout the week I will post messages in our forum of the week giving them real life examples of the topics being discussed. Additionally I will ask questions based on this. This has engaged some of the students but not all.
I see my role in the discussion to be one that encourages further discussion and promotes critical thinking. When I respond to a student's post, I compliment them for a good work and comment on what they have written in a positive manner. Then, I ask a follow up question or encourage them to think about the issue from an alternative point of view. I may also encourage others to comment in response to my follow up questions. This way, I will encourage students to think about the topic in more detail and think critically.
I agree that many students just do the minimum for the discussion posts. To facilitate increased activity I need to be clear about the discussion post requirements as not just a number of posts to meet but a quality of interaction. Furthermore, by engaging the in the conversation by asking them questions or pointing aspects out I can hopefully improved their level of engagement with the discussion threads.
Otis,
Excellent description of the details. Very well stated.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
