Developing Effective Online Discussions

The discussion board is a prevalent tool for online or blended learning. Online discussions offer an opportunity for students to interact with their instructor, other students and course materials.

However, you may occasionally find discussion boards are not as effective or engaging as expected. Participation may be lower than anticipated or comments might be low quality. Students could grow tired of posting on discussion boards rendering it less effective as a learning tool. Instructors on the other hand, may become overwhelmed by the numerous comments and may find it challenging to review all of them.

This article explores ways online instructors can improve the effectiveness of discussion boards.

Introductory Discussion Board

We recommend your first discussion board be “Introduce Yourself” or “Meet your Classmates”. This discussion will help everyone get acquainted with each other and get familiar with the use of discussion boards. Consider providing some basic instruction on how to use the discussion boards for those that may be new to the process. This is also a great way to get to know your students. You might use this opportunity to explain how and when you intend to use discussion boards in your course.

Clear Directions and Expectations

If students are unclear on the objective or expectations of a discussion board, this may deter them from participating. Prepare a guideline for the discussion, clearly state the expected participation guidelines such as number of replies, length of replies or what replies should contain. Be sure to set deadlines and explain when or how you will engage and/or grade responses.

Discussion Questions and Response Methods

Questions posed in a discussion board are the key to a valuable discussion. Questions should be aligned with learning objectives and the learning material.

Rather than just using written replies, consider allowing students to respond with multimedia – embedding video or audio, even webcam responses or allow them to link or embed presentations. This can help the discussion board feel more interactive and engaging, enabling student’s presentation skills and help build topics of conversation.

Instructor’s Role: Coaching and Feedback

While discussions allow students to communicate directly, your involvement is critical to the success of the discussion.

Let students know their roles in the discussion board and how you will participate by replying to their input. As the “moderator” of the board, you’ll want to make sure that discussion doesn’t stray too far from the topic at hand and coach students along to the end goal.

Monitor for accurate use of concepts and knowledge taught in the class and promote curiosity and deep thinking by providing detailed and constructive feedback. It is important to give timely feedback and grades on students’ work in discussion boards.

To prevent students from copying or sharing responses, you might consider enabling the option Students must post before seeing replies.

Graded or Non-graded

Depending on the type of discussion, your discussion boards can be graded or non-graded.

Non-graded discussions are informal and promote community conversation. Everyone does not necessarily have to participate in non-graded discussion boards, but you could use “bonus points” to encourage participation.

If your discussion topics are meant to enhance a higher level of learning and skills such as constructing, analyzing, evaluating and synthesizing or serve as a method for the instructors to assess student learning outcomes, you may provide rubrics for graded discussions. Replies are then evaluated and graded based on the rubric that emphasizes accuracy, clarity and substantive contributions.