To Discuss or Not To Discuss...

One of the first things that I try to impress upon anyone that comes to see me for help in developing an online course is that they MUST use the discussion board. It is as simple as black and white. I can always tell the instructors that use the discussion board component to placate me versus those that use it as a serious learning tool. Those that use it because I said they should use it are always in my office the following semester complaining about how useless the discussion board tool is.

In a way, I’m glad that they are struggling. They get to see first-hand exactly what I’m talking about. Without the use of discussion in an online course, there is no community. When there is no community, the ability for students and the instructor to learn from each other disappears. Remember that old adage about it taking a village to raise a child? The same holds true for distance learning.

When these instructors visit me prior to the next semester, the first thing I do is ask them what kinds of topics were they posting for their students to respond to. When we open their discussion boards, I notice that many of their discussions can be easily answered in just a few short sentences; if not a simple yes or no! In my mind, this isn’t a discussion. When my wife and I are in a debate over what to eat for dinner, we often converse in paragraphs of point, counterpoint. Debate over course topics should generate as much discussion- if not more than a discussion over burgers or tacos.

The discussion board assignment is an opportunity for the instructor to move up Bloom’s taxonomy and allow students to begin to synthesize course content. Instructors that miss the face-to-face environment because they can’t see physical evidence of student’s understanding should welcome the discussion board with open arms. It is this higher level thinking that will help the instructor truly understand whether their student’s “get it” or not; without ever looking at a single face in class.

There are 5 critical pieces to setting up a proper discussion board. First, the instructor needs to decide how involved they want to be in the discussion. My suggestion is that instructors may want to be more involved in the first few semesters of developing a new course. This way, the topics themselves can be judged and/or modified if necessary. Once they are comfortable with the questions and how they are worded, their visits can be trimmed back. That’s not to say that instructors shouldn’t visit the discussion board at least twice a day when any discussion topic is active. It is also not enough to just visit the discussion. Make some comments to let students know that their work isn’t going unnoticed.

Secondly, for ease of grading, the instructor will want to recommend materials that students read or review prior to submitting their responses to the discussion board. I recommend this so that instructors can spend their time grading the responses and not combing the Internet looking for resources that may or may not be cited by the student, and may or may not be considered legitimate. This is also how an instructor can further control discussion so that it is congruent with the course learning objectives.

Next, instructors should think about the questions they want their students to respond to. Notice I said questions, as in plural. The thing to remember is that in an online course, the discussion board is taking the place of the discussion that students would be having in a face-to-face class. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that in the traditional classroom, instructors ask more than one question during a class period. When formulating these questions, create some that have definitive answers, and others that could be left open to the student’s own interpretation of the concepts. Student’s interpretations will elicit responses from their peers and give instructors the best indicator of their knowledge application and retention.

Finally, instructors should decide how each response is going to be graded. Once they have figured this out, they should make it public. Create a rubric that is shared with students at orientation. Make it part of the syllabus, and also have it posted somewhere that makes sense in online course materials.

I know, I said there were five pieces. The fifth piece is conditional. It is based on whether or not the instructor is teaching online or in a blended format. If teaching online, then the four pieces already outlined is all that is needed. If the course is blended, there is one final piece to think about.

Blended courses meet both in the classroom as well as online. The instructor needs to think about how the work done online sets up the next face-to-face session, or vise-versa. Make sure that traditional classroom time is spent discussing the work being completed online. When I say this I don’t mean providing dry reminders that X is due in the discussion board by this date. Use student’s written materials to inject involvement and interest in the topical conversations held in the traditional classroom. Make the student’s work worth more than just the grade they get at the end of the semester.

There are lots of considerations to be made when developing an online course. One that shouldn’t take too much pondering is the choice to use a discussion board. It is the best way an instructor can control communication about course topics while getting a good idea how each student is interpreting and applying course information. A little thought and careful planning will give instructors the results they are looking for while achieving the highest goal of all--helping the learner.

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