Encouraging Students to Participate in Discussions
How can we, as instructors, encourage our students to participate in our discussion forums with substantive posts? Also, how can we get students to understand the importance of the discussion forums and how these forums will create a sense of a "real class"?
Traci,
I provide examples of good and bad substantive posts and I have a rubric to grade their posts. If they're not substantive, no points are earned. Works for me.
I think this is a really important question because I know that I have been very frustrated with the responses that I see to main posts. I've started wondering if this has to do with the types of discussion assignments that are assigned. I think if the questions with the assignment encourage discussion, then the discussions will be better. I have just starting having my students write blog posts (for a different course) that are based on research, but are making a strong opinion. The comments to the posts are excellent because these students have to respond to the argument of the post. Many times the DBs are not asking the students to make an argument, they just are expected to answer a questions or questions and therefore it is hard to develop any type of good questions based on just an answer to a question. I hope this clear. What do you think?
Cheryl,
Right. It depends on the purpose of the assignment and what you are expecting the students to do. It's good to mix it up a bit having some discussion and have some defense of statements. Thanks.
Traci,
I encourage my students to think of our virtual discussions as if we were in a real classroom. I stress interactivity versus simple activity. What is interactivity? With interactive conversations, we talk both to and then respond to folks. So, on the boards, I have the students not only post their main posts and two responses to classmates (two's the required minimum set by my school), but then also to respond to classmates who post to their work. I stress it's important to thank our classmates for taking the time to read our work and to post a response.
I also require that our textbook be used as a reference for each main post and highly recommend other research be used.
I try to model both interactivity and substantive posts by posting on the board frequently. Sometimes students are surprised to see me responding to their work with comments, suggested reference material, or questions.
Hope you find this helpful,
Dr. Faulk
Russell,
Good technique. The students are familiar with a regular F2F classroom, so they should be able to envision the classroom as "real." Just make sure that the responses on posts are quality. Some schools set a minimum, but don't check the quality. For example, does "Right on!" count as one of the two reponses to a post? Thanks!
One thing I do in my classes is ask questions directed to students who post either non-substantive comments or incomplete post in a discussion To me it is similar to being in a physical classroom and specifically calling on the wallflowers.
In my messages I always start by thanking them for their post and then politely asking them to expand on some aspect of their message.
Cheers, Dennis
Dennis,
You are right. You've taken a skill you learned in the F2F classroom and transferred it to the online environment. Excellent.
One thing I like to do personally is post things from our field that are not necessarily related to the specific discussion question that they are being graded on. I will find live job postings, sample resumes, anything that will get them excited about the future in the field to keep them looking at the bigger reason they are here. :)
Kimberly,
Excellent. You are connecting what they are learning to the real world of work. Nice job.
In my paralegal classes, I assign cases for the students to brief. I first give them an opportunity to choose the case before assigning them. I have found that asking students to "pair up" in an on line environment is problematic. When I respond to their briefs, I always ask them open ended questions to "get them to think".
Mike,
Open ended questions do provide us, as instructors, with much more feedback. Nice job.
I ask students questions related to the assignments but will add facts or omit facts to see if they will change their mind, can they be persuaded to switch viewpoints as new information arises.
Marshall,
Persuasion is an art. Students need to be able to defend their choices, opinions, etc. and follow them up with facts and data. Thanks!
Students in an introductory course often say that they don't know enough to comment on other students' posts. How do you respond to that?
Lois,
Change up what the postings are about. Start with low level postings that everyone can respond to and then build on that.
These are two great questions. Ones that I additionally need feedback on. For me, to get students to post something "useful" to the discussion board and class, I usually have to drag it out of them. I do this by reading their initial response, then ask them a question in order to get them thinking and hopefully responding. I usually end all my responses to the students with questions.
I don't know how to get accross the importance of the discussion boards. I try to use points, or the lack thereof, questions, class announcements, emails, etc. This is a tough one. I think when students see that they are not getting full credit for their discussion responses, some will ask why and change their behavior. Others don't care.
Good Luck!!
Nate,
I use an easy rubric to grade discussion board posts. And, I provide examples of good/bad postings. Many times I answer a students' posting with another question. All have seemed to help.
I think the simple way to avoid this is ask specific follow up questions to individual students in the discussion. This puts them on the spot in which they don't have many options but to answer the question substantially.
The analogy I like to share with students is to think of our discussions as if we were sitting in a "real" classroom. The only difference is that we can't see each other in our virtual classroom. Our discussions, however, can be just as lively and interactive. It seems to help them to think of having conversations with each other and with me.
Dr. Faulk
