A Discussion On Discussions
It is important to encourage all students to participate in the online forums and to elaborate on brief remarks. Sometimes, it helps to ask follow up questions to keep the student engaged and inspire more critical thinking.
Good advice. Also, the way in which the forum is graded will encourage more participation. Grading on the percentage of student posts that were read, and the percentage that were responded will encourage participation. However, the grade must be dependent on the QUALITY of the response, not just by how many words were used.
The follow up question in online forums is INCREDIBLY critical! I completely agree. I think that it's kind of an art, taking a student statement and making it into a more open ended part of the discussion.
I personally warn students at the beginning of class that I enjoy playing devil's advocate in the forums. I make sure to mention that I most likely agree with their point but that I'm just trying to foster greater participation and critical thinking.
