June
26
Tuesday 2:00 - 3:00
Dr Sue Stoddart
Key Words: Effective and Lively!
- instructor presence - must be more present than normally would be in a face-to-face class
- lively - engage students
- know all the tools available to online discussions (see discussions not read, etc)
How do we really get to know students in online learning? - Through online discussions!
Great discussions do not “just happen”. You need to put work in before, during, and after.
Before - prepare in advance
- clarify goals & objectives - use to evaluate student participation, revisit and reevaluate
- plan guiding questions for discussion
- design activities that will prepare students to discuss - research material/interview for discussion topics
- clarify goals for each discussion
- talk about discussion (what is a discussion? How do you participate effectively in a discussion?)
- set ground rules - provide a rubric! (no “im speak”, etc)
- Quality of Information
- Resources
- Interaction
- Participation
- Delivery
During - great discussions are purposefully led
- ask questions that establish what students understand before asking them to do more complex or original thinking - don’t want students to get to the end too quickly. Let students ask each other questions, and evolve discussions. Students not participating this way? Step in, ask questions, and promote students asking questions as well
- ask follow-up questions that allow students to develop or clarify a response. Model this so your students will start doing this as well
- give feedback as they go, tell them how many points they are getting, where they are lacking, what they can do to improve
After - great discussions are assessed
- debriefing or journals - provide record or summary of key points as they emerge. Key things they learned from each discussion, and from course in general. Add entries every week.
- draw connections between day’s discussion and other topics - even a final project. All discussions build on each other up to the final project. Each is relevant to the greater course and can be connected to earlier and later discussions
- evaluate student responses based on ground rules. Not just quantity but quality of responses
- Use your rubric! Follow what it says, don’t grade on things not on the rubric.
Building to more discussions
- how will next discussion build on learning created in the current discussion?
- Always go in with discussions already set up. But allow the flexibility to change if the discussions shift, or if there are problems with a key topic, or if students understand something earlier than expected
- use students’ comments or written responses to address new discussions
- emphasize connections between new topic and earlier discussions
Extend the Traditional Classroom - benefits and uses of online discussions
- student interaction outside of class
- seek clarification for issue encountered in coursework - students can come more prepared if they have questions in between classes
- build on one another’s perspectives and gain deeper understanding - don’t be afraid to learn from students, don’t be afraid if they “know more about technology” than you do
- class preparation - use to discuss ideas to use later in class
- monitor discussions to identify where students are struggling
- frequently asked & straightforward questions
- shy students, students lacking confidence - they can flourish in online discussion! They find that they do have things to contribute, and gain confidence as they go
- chat rooms - one-on-one conversations with students, group work, special topics. (Sue doesn’t use chat rooms frequently, but when she does she doesn’t require them for the grade.) Fastest typers tend to contribute the most. Good for interviews with authors or other people of interest.
Failing Online Discussions
- no community - usually because the instructor isn’t present enough
- no motivation - no requirements, not clear goals and rubrics, don’t know if anyone is actually reading what they’re doing
- unfamiliarity - don’t know how to use the discussions. Use Snapkast, Camtasia, etc to help students learn
- no credit - doesn’t motivate students
- unrealistic goals
Benefits of Online Discussions
- students can think through responses thoroughly and take time to compose and edit before submitting
- can respond, save, and “sleep on it”
- can hear from each individual student as opposed to only the more outgoing people who are more apt to respond traditionally
- interactive learning and accountability - putting your thoughts in text. It’s there, and will be there in the future
Online Discussions are what make online courses courses and not just shoveling a face-to-face course online and expecting students to interact with it.
Free cartoons for instructors from Randy Glasbergen!
Link to session page here.
