Asynchronous discussions can be very valuable to students if the questions are properly worded to make students think about and apply the knowledge they have gleaned from the course content. The instructor has to carefully monitor discussions and enforce proper netiquette. The instructor should also provide a summary to the discussion topic, and communicate individually with each student after each discussion forum is completed, providing constructive criticism when needed. For synchronous discussions, individual works best, but no more than 5 or 6 students at a time in one discussion forum.
