6.2 Student-centered discussion - principle 2 - promising practices

The discussion board is one location in your course that can be used to encourage collaboration and cooperation. Well written discussion items do not happen without planning and thought. Consider how you will motivate students to participate, how you will encourage substantive and relevant responses, and how you will guide and assess student participation. As the designer and facilitator of the board, your role is one of balance. You must create discussions that are engaging in ways to pull students into the discussion while maintaining a focus on intended learning outcomes.

Tip

It has been shown that many threads will extinguish if students do not respond quickly to new postings. One technique that is often successful is to require students to post early in the week and to post again later in the week.

The value you place on discussion board postings and responses is perceived by students. Reinforce your beliefs in the power of dialogue and communication as a way to learn. The language you craft in the course emphasizing the discussion board as essential for cooperation and collaboration is important. You can reinforce this by making discussion postings a significant portion of the grades for the course.

Here are five activities for your consideration to spark sharing among students on the discussion board. Remember, the focus of this unit is to discuss practice to develop reciprocity and cooperation among students. Use of controversial readings, diverse points of view, debates, case studies, etc. are just a few of the ways to engage students and to make the board more collaborative.

1. controversial topics

2. web trips