Discussion postings
While I didn't see anything innovative in the design of discussion questions, I did like the fact that students couldn't see others' postings until they made their initial posting. It is appropriate for entry level discussion questions where students might have very similar responses.
One observation I made was that some students treated discussion the same as essay questions. They would write 2-3 page long response and submitted it to the discussion board as an attachment. It might be necessary for instructors to provide guidance or instructions around how to interact with each other on the discussion board. The initial response doesn't have to be a thorough and exhaustive answer. 4-5 sentences to capture the essence of your thoughts. Personal experiences and reflections are especially welcome instead of regurgitating the information from the textbook. Students need some handholding on how to interact with each other. Here is one tip:
Require students’ responses to other students to always include at least two of the following: a Compliment (e.g., “I like how…”; “I like that…”), a Comment (e.g., “I agree that… because…”; “I disagree that… because…”), a Connection (e.g., “I also have read/seen/heard/thought that…”), and a Question (e.g., “I wonder why/how/who/what/when/where…”).
One observation I made was that some students treated discussion the same as essay questions. They would write 2-3 page long response and submitted it to the discussion board as an attachment. It might be necessary for instructors to provide guidance or instructions around how to interact with each other on the discussion board. The initial response doesn't have to be a thorough and exhaustive answer. 4-5 sentences to capture the essence of your thoughts. Personal experiences and reflections are especially welcome instead of regurgitating the information from the textbook. Students need some handholding on how to interact with each other. Here is one tip:
Require students’ responses to other students to always include at least two of the following: a Compliment (e.g., “I like how…”; “I like that…”), a Comment (e.g., “I agree that… because…”; “I disagree that… because…”), a Connection (e.g., “I also have read/seen/heard/thought that…”), and a Question (e.g., “I wonder why/how/who/what/when/where…”).