Posts Tagged ‘online discussion groups’
September 2 - Is There Too Much Interaction in Your Online Courses?
By: Jennifer Patterson Lorenzetti in Online Education
Interaction has always been seen as a key component of an online course. Whether it is student-student or student-teacher interaction, the ability to discuss and exchange ideas has long been considered to be the piece that adds value to an online course, keeping it from becoming simply the posting of written course material on a web page, the digital equivalent of a correspondence course. In fact, many programs promote the highly interactive nature of their curriculum as evidence of its educational value.
April 7 - Cultural Sensitivity Needed in Online Discussion Rubric Language
By: Debra Ferdinand, PhD in Asynchronous Learning and Trends, Educational Assessment
International student and online course enrollments had noted increases for 2010 at U.S. tertiary institutions (Institute of International Education, 2010 & Sloan-C, 2010). These enrollment data remind us that U.S. campuses are continually becoming more culturally and internationally diverse in their student populations. However, this diversity may not always be apparent in the increasing numbers of students taking online courses as the instructor-student interaction is not face-to-face as in seated classes. The latter interaction allows for more awareness of students’ cultural differences and any immediate adjustment in verbal and non-verbal communication as the need arises.
February 18 - Tips for More Active Asynchronous Discussions All Semester Long
By: Rob Kelly in Asynchronous Learning and Trends
During a recent seminar, presenters Kay Dennis of Park University and Jeffery Alejandro of East Carolina University, offered the following tips on using online discussions to maintain student motivation: Be explicit and optimistic about expectations for course participation. “I tell students upfront, — ‘I want you to sign in at last three times a week
January 28 - Helping Students Develop Problem-Solving Skills via Online Discussions
By: Maryellen Weimer, PhD in Effective Teaching Strategies
Developing sophisticated but essential learning skills is especially challenging in large classes. That’s why we regularly report on strategies that faculty members have developed and are using in large classes. The cases in point here are three different biochemistry courses in which faculty members have been using online, asynchronous discussion groups to develop problem-solving skills.
January 19 - Enhancing Learning Through Vibrant Online Discussions
By: Dale Kimball and Michael Jazzar in Asynchronous Learning and Trends
The discussion board is the heart and soul of online learning. As such, the life and livelihood of online teaching and learning flows through threaded, asynchronous conversations inspired by thought-provoking questions. To maximize the potential of online discussions, these conversations need to be relevant and inspiring dialogs that empower and enlighten online learning.
November 11 - Making Online Discussion Boards Work for Skills-Based Courses
By: Rob Kelly in Online Education
If you teach a skills-based course and wonder how online discussion can enhance the learning experience, consider Roger Gee’s approach to the use of online discussions in his introduction to accounting course.
June 8 - Tapping Into Higher-Level Thinking in Online Courses
By: Anne Saxe in Online Education
One of the most important responsibilities online instructors face is teaching students how to think critically. Successful achievement of this task requires that instructors provide the right setting and the appropriate activities that will prompt a student on to higher-level thinking. Though this mission is not exclusive to online instruction, the online environment presents some unique challenges and opportunities that distinguish this type of learning environment from traditional face-to-face classroom instruction.
June 1 - How to Jumpstart Online Discussions
By: Jim Guinee, PhD in Asynchronous Learning and Trends
Online discussions are sometimes difficult to get going, and often the students (at least at first) seem to respond too superficially, punctuated by an occasional treatise by an overeager student. Here’s how I jumpstart discussions in my family relations online course.
April 29 - Discussion Board Assignments Designed to Foster Interaction and Collaboration
By: Stacey Curdie in Online Education
After some trial and error, I have hit upon a discussion set up that seems to promote the kind of depth and breadth of engagement with the course material and with each other that I would ideally like to elicit. Students are asked to read between two-to-four pieces of literature (poetry, short stories, essays) and to participate in two discussion boards per week – one group discussion and one pair discussion. For both, they must post an initial answer to a question I pose by Tuesday. Then, by Friday at noon, they must read at least what they’re groupmates have posted and post at least one reply/follow-up.
April 8 - Online Discussion Boards: Assessing What’s Important
By: Stacey Curdie in Online Education
When I first began teaching online, I believed that anytime students wrote anything, they should be held accountable for both spelling and grammar and my discussion rubric reflected that. As a result, I got very brief, very stiff, very formal discussion posts in which students were clearly speaking to me rather than to each other.
