Hello
First of all this goes back to expectations and assignment criteria. There should be parameters set up for required length of an assignment and the rubric should address this issue as well. Some schools have policies in place for how the Discussion Board policy ought to take place; first time posting by a certain date and responses following on separate days of the week.
Since the Discussion board is the heart of the online learning environment and foster critical thinking skills, I take a very energetic approach to participating on my discussion boards. I try to engage with ever student every week and this way they know I am monitoring their progress. My strategies to extend learners thinking and keep the discussion focused is to upload documentaries, documentation, and real life examples to enhance and bring the discussion to life. I interact with the responses made by students and encourage them and give them Socratic questions to keep the discussion moving. These are just a few items, I could go on and on...
I find that combining open-ended questions addressed to the entire class, coupled with individual feedback and inquiries creates the perfect combination. These coupled techniques encourage individual participation and group collaboration.
Hello Herbert and Class. This, I think, is the greatest challenge of online teaching - to engage and keep students engaged in the discussion threads. I have had both feast and famine discussions with courses. In those where students were barely complying with the minimum rules, I tried to stimulate further dialogue by posting another question that might intrigue their interest. I have also contacted the students individually to advise them that although they did meet the minimum requirements of each thread, they can enhance their understanding by reading and responding more than the minimum. I remind them that as our virtual classrooms, it will be much more dynamic for all of us to engage with each other on an ongoing basis throughout each week so that we can benefit from each other's viewpoints on our topics.
Maureen
A substantive post can always be followed with a question to foster deeper thinking. Also, opening the question to the whole class may result in greater participation between the students.
Instructors can keep students, as well as themselves engaged in a discussion group by offering questions or topics which are broken down into sub-categories, and the next question or response is based upon the previous one. this was, the discussion is continuous as it builds.
Katherine,
This is the presence elements. The more the students see you active and present in the course, the more likely they will also be motivated to remain active and present in the discussions and other elements of the course. When instructors are not in regular contact with the students, then the students are typically less active and involved.
Herbert Brown III
One way to continually involve students in a discussion is to reply to their post. When they see an instructor reply to their post, they know that the instructor is watching them. I try to reply to the post and also pose a question back to the student in hopes that they will answer my question. I have been very successful in this method of engaging learners in discussions.
My role as the instructor is to help provide interesting and relevant information that will keep the students engaged in the discussion topic. I watch how students check in on one day, and post everything at once and then never return. I have helped keep them interested in the discussion by showing a strong presence in the room, asking questions that requires additional information and research, and respond to their questions.
For discussions, I give students constructive feedback and alternate viewpoints in order to facilitate their thinking. In addition to that, I sometimes reference other students' ideas from the same discussion to allow them to discuss the issue themselves and further the conversation. This really helps students become more engaged in class discussions.
There are several roles that need to be addressed by the instructor. I think the most important roll is to clearly outline what is expected of the students, how they will be evaluated, and what support / interaction they can expect from the instructor. The instructor should also closely monitor the interaction and discussions to ensure a safe, creative and productive forum environment. I also feel the instructor should engage and encourage those students who are reluctant to participate. This can often require private discussion with the student(s), and reward when those students reach deeper and push outside of their comfort zone.
To encourage participation, I often include tasks and challenges that require the students to employ critical thinking, research and employ reliable resources, and finally, provide peers with insight, feedback, suggestions, and share experiences.
To keep students on topic, I ensure that the forum discussion has clearly identified objectives, and I often provide a sample response. Through the use of good resources, the students are encouraged (and sometimes required) to explore and engage in critical thinking, alternative solutions, and constructive criticism in peer feedback.
I require and present examples of postings to the DB full paragraph content. For students that are giving a minimal response I'll ask for more information, an explanation of their comments, or pose questions to extend their thinking on the assignment.
I teach healthcare and allow students to post replies to the assignment topic, e.g. professional or personal (guarded) experiences they may have had with a given situation. E.g. 'my aunt was in the hospital for three days a couple of years ago and communication with the staff was a complete disaster. Neither she nor the family could find anyone to give information about discharge or forms of follow up care.....' frequently this type of post (response/reply) will elicit other students to consider the issue and the importance of communication in a healthcare setting. Or, they have their own experience to relate which stimulates a discussion within the class.
Limiting students to having to respond to other student's DB papers is constrictive and often irrelevant to the nature of the subject.
As the Facilitator I have a major role. One strategy to stimulate the thread is to query the learners with open ended questions as several others have stated and work to stimulate, encourage and engage them. Another strategy is to engage a thread that supports one of the learning objectives and expand that thread with a leading question to draw others into the discussion.
I am sure there are many factors that lead to the minimum posts by a learner and understanding your learners who are in the course will help provide a better understanding. Blended courses aid in this relationship building—there are other ways also like a phone call if required—each has their own circumstances that are not all equal.
Know the minimum is what many learners will do. I would challenge that if you are going to do the minimum then your contributions need to be at a higher level also.
Feedback directly to the individual learner regarding their post is another way to reference quality. One of the ways also is to have the learners focus on improving the subject line in the post to make it a rich narrative of what is being inferred. There are 130 replies to Engaging Learners in Discussion and they all have the same subject line which is fine but would a different subject line where appropriate add to the thread? A review of the subject lines in this forum also draw attention to which one is replied to—interesting these post go back to 2007.
My own personal experience with my online experience was typically 3 post and 3 replies in one week to a threaded discussion. Issue was when learners engaged late in the week at the last moment--still required a response by those who posted early and facilitated by the instructor.
Ben,
Are there any strategies that you have used to get students to open up about topics and to get them to post more meaningful posts?
Herbert Brown III
I think that my role in the discussions is to keep the discussion on topic and to encourage meaningful posts. To do this I have to participate regularly and respond to a good percentage of the class's posts. Also I need to be careful to make sure that my responses are meaningful and positive. I want to make sure that the atmosphere in the discussion board is always so positive so that students will feel to open up about a particular topic.
I would ask them to read all posts even if they don't think they are going to respond. They may start feeling more and moe comfortable and eventually start posting themselves.
I've found that I can get additional participation by directly addressing each student. They seem to respond well to personalized messages instead of generic mass-messages. Just like I would call upon students by name to answer a question in a resident class, I send a direct message addressed only to them.
We have found that discussion topics and questions need to be explicitly written. Provide the students with leading questions that will guide them in their responses.
The best way to keep students involved in a discussion is to ask open ended questions that will require an explanation, rather than a yes or no answer
Cally,
I use similar techniques are well and find it effective in getting students to engage the content in more depth than just a cursory approach to an assignment.
Herbert Brown III
Ron, I think that is a great idea to make the students write more for a better grade. This will at least get them to think about their answers a bit more and try a bit harder. I will have to give this a go in my next class.
Thanks for the insight!
