Engaging Learners in Discussion
This is a good question- one that I spend a lot of time thinking about, as forums are a very important part of my online classes. First of all, I put a lot of thought into the questions that I post in the forums. They are always relevant to the topic of the week, but they bring out elements not covered in the lessons. The questions are very open ended, and are usually so interesting that students normally do check back in to see what other students have posted. For example, I teach an online Intro to Computers class, and one of the discussion questions this week is, "How does modern digital image-processing technology affect the reliability of photographic evidence? How does digital audio technology affect the reliability of sound recordings as evidence? How should our legal system respond to this technology?" Students usually have quite a number of different opinions about this topic. I always participate in the discussions at the end of the week. I monitor the threads in case there are questions directed to me, but I don't post my summary until the end of the week. My students know that in order to receive full credit for participation each week, they have to post well-thought-out responses to the questions. I don't give any credit for "I agree with you" unless new content is provide along with the agreement. The truth is, it isn't hard to know who is participating in a productive way and who isn't. I also weight my grades, and 30% of the the total grade comes from participation in the discussion threads. The students who care about their grades participate.
Hi Richard!
I agree that in order for students to participate more actively, they have to know that the instructor is "listening" to what they have to say. If a student is only posting minimal responses, I contact the student privately (through e-mail or individual forums) to review substantive posting. This seems to help a great deal and it lets them know that I am paying attention.
Do you think it would be helpful to provide a discussion in the beginning of each course that would ask student expectations of instructors? Do you think that such a question would engage students in discussions better?
Penny,
Instructors need to stay connected to all aspects of the course and continue to facilitate the course. By adding additional questions in the discussion you are doing a good just of "guiding" the discussion.
Herbert Brown III
I like to play a role in discussions two. I like to tap into what the student has said, connect it to my work, and then connect it to a question to get them to think more. This tends to work pretty well.
Roland,
Do you have any strategies you use to get the reluctant student to participate? Do you grade their participation based on the quality of the response...as you note "minimal requirements met" "exceptional post" ?
Herbert Brown III
Most students are great participants and identifying those individuals is pretty easy because they start discussing relevant topics early in the course. A few participants will wait until the last minute to meet the minimum requirements therefore posting a less substantive post. I always give positive feedback regardless of post quality, simultaneously encouraging a more substantive post and more proliferate participation by simply stating that other students are interesting in hearing their opinons . The most difficult part is getting the reluctanct student to participate but once they have, it's nearly magical.
Lori,
Directing and guiding questions are a great way to get the student to go deeper in to the content. Sometimes it may also take giving them a general outline of the way to respond, such as: identify the facts and details, tie those details to what you are learning specifically in this class, write several sentences on how you can use this in your field (the reflection piece). Many students just don't understand what a good discussion should look like. The more detail we can give them, and as you mention, guide them along, the stronger they will be as a student and the more they will learn.
Herbert Brown III
This is a good question and what I have done is respond to their post with an engaging question, refer them back to the text book, even providing them with a page number or ask the question in another way to see if I can pull more information out of them.
If this doesn't work, I deduct points for not fully engaging in the discussion and hopefully this will grab their attention.
One of the greatest challenges I have found in facilitating discussions is that many learners simply post the minimum requirements and once they have met the expectations of the discussion, they disengage and don't bother to come back into the discussion to extend the dialog on the topic.
What will be your role in discussions? How will you encourage substantive participation? What strategies will you use to extend learner’s thinking and keep the discussion focused on the intended outcomes?
I have found it helpful to give some actual examples of a substantive v. non-substantive post. They are usual shorter and not on an actual assignment question but I have had better results in most classes where students have seen an example.
I also try to ask lots of questions and encourage them to do so and talk at the start of class about the expectation that as much as possible they answer any question they are asked in a discussion. You could argue that this is just changing the requirement somewhat and changing the minimum that's expected to get by a little...but I think it has helped by setting up the idea that in this class asking and answering a lot of questions that come out of the discussion is just something we do.
It doesn't work perfectly for every class but as some students buy in at the start it does help to increase discussion beyond the minimum throughout the class.
-Sarah
I have found that the best technique for engaging students and getting them to post follow-up responses is in being present daily in the discussions, making sure I respond to each student personally each week, providing feedback that shows that I read their posts, and asking solid follow-up questions that are meaningful and make them think.
Good ideas. I agree. I tell students from the beginning what my expectations are and what they will need to do to get a good grade. In addition, responses like "yes" and "I agree" without any additional content are not counted -- it's just too easy! I want to encourage original thought!
Patricia,
Good strategy for getting students engaged early and often. Also, sounds like you are able to get some really good input.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I give feedback to early posters to the discussion with a statement:
"If you want to try for more points, post a complete AND corrected “REPLY TO FORUM†I will grade the last one posted before the deadline. Add a note to the "Subject" that this is a revision."
This allows them to try to improve. Many actually take advantage of this!
I would guesss the most important intitial answer would be that the student know the instructor is "out there" listening. How a student would know this is by timely responses by the instructor. It probabaly would be a good idea to let the students know in advance the expectations of discussions. For example, the minimum response by a student is not enough, e.g. tell me more. Once the student understands that the instructor has expectations above minimum efforts, the instructor will then have ample discretion to monitor the discussions. The instructor will gain an immediate sense of the aptitudes of the students and will grade such responses judiciously.
Joyce,
Good way to share the information and reduce student frustrations. The use of a grading rubric is essential in my opinion because through the use of the rubric you show the students where they earned points and how points were lost. This reduces the questions about receiving a score of 75 out of 100 on a project with no other information given. A rubric informs and guides the discussion about project scores in a way that is informative and helpful.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I view my role in the discussion board forums as that of the moderator. As the moderator, I will post initial topics of discussion, respond to students' posts, and introduce further lines of inquiry.
I encourage substantive participation by creating a set of guidelines in which my expectations for students' responses are outlined. Further, I ask the individual students to provide additional information and further discussion when applicable.
I engage the students individually by acknowledging their posts, providing feedback to their posts, and asking them questions which require further explanation or return them to the original topic.
During my first live chat session I discuss with my students what I consider to be a thorough posting to a discussion topic and give an example of what will earn little to no points as a response. I also make a grading rubric for each discussion board assignment so they know exactly what I expect from them in terms of a response to the question posted.
David,
Good point. Clear and concise course expectations form the foundation upon the course is going to operate. Students need to know this information right up front.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
give the learners a clear expectation on day one the follow up
