Online Discussions

The primary means by which students interact and discuss online is through asynchronous online discussion forums. Students can post well-thought-out responses to a prompt or question posed by the instructor. Other students can reply to these responses and discussion threads. If you use online discussion forums to replace face-to-face discussions, make sure that students know that and provide clear guidance and expectations for how to participate. Although these online discussions lack the spontaneous, organic discussions in face-to-face classes, they can still be rich conversations and interactions. Students have the advantage of having students think through their responses to questions and their replies to other students' responses. Additionally, all students typically have to participate in these graded online discussion forums, so there is no hiding in the back of the class and avoiding participation.

Tips and Strategies

To maximize online discussion forums, follow these tips and strategies:

Clear Expectations and Criteria Needed

Establish clear expectations and criteria for participation in the online discussions regarding what counts as a deeper, substantive response and for replies to other students’ responses. Grade on quality of posts versus quantity, i.e., you will only grade the first three posts, so make them count. Students may post superficial comments without much substance, such as “I agree” or “good post,” if there are no clear criteria for what counts as a substantive response or interaction. A grading rubric with clear standards and examples of online discussion posts that meet or do not meet your criteria can help guide students. Based on research, online discussions typically need to be worth 15-20% of the final grade for students to participate fully and put forth more effort. 

Large Enrollment Courses

Online discussion boards may not be well-suited to courses with many students; it may be challenging to follow all the instructor and student postings. However, breaking the students up into discussion groups can help with a high number of students.

Facilitating Online Discussions

Responding to every student’s posts can be counterproductive and create a lot of work for the instructor. Providing students with time to explore the topic independently and learn from each other’s ideas is more effective. Instead, monitor the discussions and intervene if they go off track or if there are inappropriate comments. It can be more effective and efficient for the instructor to post a summary of the discussion at the end, highlighting key themes, good student posts and ideas, closing any gaps in knowledge, and correcting any misconceptions. Provide feedback early to all students to affirm or correct their posts and participation.

Question/Prompt Design

Create open-ended questions, problems or tasks for students to answer, solve or complete with multiple approaches or perspectives. Questions that target the application, analysis and synthesis of higher-order thinking levels from Bloom’s Taxonomy will be more engaging and generate more discussion. Add variety to the online discussion forums. Use real-world cases for students to analyze, scenarios to work through, data sets and arguments, scavenger hunts to find examples of concepts, and role-playing exercises. Note that online discussion forums are dynamic. Students can post images, web links, and documents and use them to conduct peer reviews of student work.

Timing/Due Dates

Stagger due dates for initial responses to prompts or questions and replies to other students’ posts. For example, initial responses are due on Tuesdays and replies to other students’ posts are due on Fridays. This will help prevent students from waiting until the last minute to post to the discussion forums, which can lead to minimal interaction or discussion. Although there is no way to have two different due dates in the Brightspace/D2L discussion forum tool, instructors can build these staggered due dates into the grading scheme. Keep due dates across online discussions consistent as much as possible.