Posts Tagged ‘online discussion groups’
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.
March 15 - Incorporating Synchronous Elements into Online Courses to Enhance Student Engagement
By: Mary Bart in Online Education
A funny thing happened to some graduate students at Drexel University. They enrolled in an online program, drawn by the anytime/anywhere convenience the medium affords, but found that one of their favorite aspects was the live synchronous learning elements.
November 20 - Questioning Styles for More Effective Discussion Boards
By: Rob Kelly in Asynchronous Learning and Trends
Meaningful online discussions that promote learning and build community usually do not happen spontaneously. They require planning, good use of questioning techniques, and incentives for student participation.
September 10 - Ethnicity and Social Presence in Online Courses
By: Rob Kelly in Trends in Higher Education
Social presence, “the degree to which a medium is perceived as representing the presence of communication participants,” is an important factor in students’ learning and satisfaction. With online learning reaching across cultures, Judy Teng, educational technologist at the College of Saint Rose, studied how ethnicity affects student perceptions of social presence.
March 3 - Four Ways to Improve Online Discussion Forums
By: Rob Kelly in Asynchronous Learning and Trends, Online Education
Rebecca Arbisi, chair of the business department at State Fair Community College in Missouri, offers the following tips for improving the quality of threaded discussions:
October 31 - Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom
By: Wordpress Admin in Free Reports, Online Education
One of the best teaching tools in a traditional classroom is the team project. When students work together, they learn a great deal – not just about what they’re studying, but about how to work with others toward common goals, with shared responsibilities, for shared reward. Traditional classrooms have an innate advantage in bringing students together … the students are sitting there right in front of them. A collaborative project can begin by simply seating the team at the same table.
