Discussions

These blogs have been very informative, as I had hoped they would be. One suggestion from Lisa Marie Johnson has been particularly helpful and I will be incorporating it into my fall classes. That is the subject of discussion posts. Some of the students in my classes love discussions, and others think they are a waste of time. Regardless of how they feel, we try to get them involved in these classes as if they are taking a class on campus. No one textbook can cover what they need to learn in a class and discussions are supposed to be a learning tool.

This summer, I had one class with over 25 students. On Saturday, I would have perhaps 10 posts, by Monday, there were 72 posts. Many made at 11 p.m. on Sunday night (the due date). Obviously, not acceptable.

Lisa puts the following in her classes. I believe this will be very helpful to me in my fall classes. Thank you Lisa for sharing.

“Please do not think of the 'end date' for our discussions as the 'due date'. You are expected to be active on two different days each week a discussion is open. And, posting only on the last day will result in point loss regardless of the quality or quantity of your postings. The reason for this guideline is that research shows the more active students are in an online course discussion the more they learn and the more engaged they are with their learning overall.
Also, it's just good manners. Imagine you were taking this course on campus two or three days a week for an hour or so. Then, imagine you made a habit of coming in during the last 5 minutes of class and offering a lot of information and questions to consider. You would not expect much interaction from your instructor peers, would you? In fact, you would look a bit silly.

Well, the same is true online. Waiting until the final hours of a 'class period/discussion' that has been going on for 7-14 days is similar to walking into class at the last minute and expecting a quality level of interaction or learning. It just is not going to happen! The final day of discussion, if anything, like the final minutes of a class period, are about reflection, debriefing, and digesting what has been said and preparing yourself for what is to come, or asking for clarification on things from the class/discussion that are unclear to you. Please keep this in mind when participating this term - we have a course room, but it is yours and my interactions throughout the weeks that will make it a "class".”