Engaging Communication on the discussion board
I'm finding that many of my students do not go back into the discussion board to read comments posted on their answers. I think I'm going to start sending a reminder asking them to review these remarks and respond appropriately.
I appreciate your comments on the topic. I've found it helpful to invite students to post 'replies' to the topic itself. For example they may have a personal or professional experience that relates to the subject. Rather than limiting them to a reply to another student they can tell of their experience. This often stimulates other students to engage in the post. E.g. My aunt was in the hospital a couple of years ago and communication from the staff was terrible. The family felt left out and this only made my aunt's experience worse. Another student may reply with a similar experience or a suggestion on how families can get the attention of the healthcare provider staff. So replies to other students as a requirement can stifle participation by being too structured.
I have had this problem as well, Kimberly. Reminders are a great idea, so is having a required amount of comments.
My students must post their initial answer, then respond to at least two other students' comments. Some students even respond 3-4 times, which is nice!
The downfall is that sometimes after their initial post, that is when they respond to two other students, never checking back later. They do the assignment all in one day, so they may not even read the comments on their own post.
Afrodite,
Positive encouraging feedback is always a great way to start. The more positive feedback you can provide, and follow up questions to get them to respond again in maybe a deeper way, they stronger the discussions will be.
Herbert Brown III
The students at our school are required to make a minimum of 3 posts. Two of them are opinion posts and one is a more research based post in conjunction with their opinion. When I read the first opinion posts I respond to each student with a positive comment and a follow up question to keep them engaged. I find that this helps them keep engaged in the conversation more.
Our students are required to post an initial response to a Forum question as well as reply to at least 2 other students in the discussion forums.
However, I have noticed that the students will rarely go back and reply to responses on their original post. They tend to find 2 other people's posts and just reply to them, to meet the requirements.
I am going to try my best to stay actively involved in all of the student threads, but there will be a lot at once.
Kimberly,
It may help when responding to students who are only making the minimum amounts of comments in a question form, so that they are almost forced to make another comment. This might help them to stay engaged.
Leyann,
Is there any "quality" or depth required or just that they respond. My problem with arbitrary numerical requirements are they do not fit every scenario and online design model. I do, however, feel that students and instructors should be actively involved in the discussions. The trick is encouraging students and faculty to do this effectively.
Herbert Brown III
Leyann,
Is there any "quality" or depth required or just that they respond. My problem with arbitrary numerical requirements are they do not fit every scenario and online design model. I do, however, feel that students and instructors should be actively involved in the discussions. The trick is encouraging students and faculty to do this effectively.
Herbert Brown III
Kimberly,
We will be rolling out online soon, one of our requirements is for students to be required to comment 2 times on all discussion boards. I believe they wont be able to progress to the next section until they have logged 2 comments.
Leyann
