The Toolbox A TEACHING AND LEARNING RESOURCE FOR INSTRUCTORS A TEACHING AND LEARNING RESOURCE FOR INSTRUCTORS
Volume 14 Issue 3 January 2016
Engaging Students in Online Discussions: A Digital Pathway to Engagement
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here is increased interest in higher education today regarding the most effective ways to engage students in learning outside of the classroom. This attention has been partly spurred by the credit-hour regulations issued in 2010 by the U.S. Department of Education (34 CFR 600.2), which stipulate that one credit-hour equates to one hour of in-class instruction and two hours of engagement outside the classroom per week (3 hours total), over the span of a 15-week semester. The regulations have increased awareness of the need to systematically plan for out-of-class learning. As a result, many colleges and universities are exploring varied strategies for enhancing the quantity and quality of their online and blended learning options. An effective way to connect students with one another and course content, as well as meet out-of-class requirements, is the online discussion forum. This tool is common to most campus learning management systems (LMSs), such as Canvas, Moodle, or Blackboard, and offers a structured format for students to respond to prompts created by the instructor and provide feedback to one another. Below are some strategies for creating vibrant online discussions for students as a pathway to engagement.
A Great Discussion Begins With an Enticing Prompt Instructors must first clearly identify the content and focus of the online discussion they are planning. In addition, they need to carefully consider the question(s) or prompts that would invite diverse opinions and perspectives as well as provide a platform for healthy exploration—and even disagreements—among students. Prompts can be as simple as an open-ended question or include a variety of formats, such as a video clip, webpage link, or quotation from an expert or radical thinker in the field. The main point is to provide a discussion prompt that will encourage students to think, feel, and respond.
The discussion itself is what most matters, the fact that we can reason together easily, with a blend of wit and seriousness, never descending into gossip or slander and always allowing room for alternative views.
— Stephen Greenblatt, author
Establish and Communicate the Procedures for Participation A typical LMS discussion tool will contain multiple features that allow the instructor to customize the students’ learning experience. These may include beginning and ending dates for the discussion, the option to allow students to edit their posts, the ability to make anonymous posts, and a requirement that students must submit their own discussion post before being able to see the work of their classmates. Prior to launching an online discussion, instructors need to spend time investigating the options in their LMS (or seek advice from their campus IT department) to decide which settings will be most conducive to achieve the desired learning outcomes. National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience ® and Students in Transition, University of South Carolina
www.sc.edu/fye/toolbox
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