Posts Tagged ‘online discussions’
January 18 - How Many Faculty Discussion Posts Each Week? A Simply Delicious Answer
By: Cheryl Hayek, EdD in Online Education
One of the most frequently asked questions from veteran and novice online faculty alike is, “How many weekly discussion posts should I contribute?” The reality is that there is an intricate balancing act to achieve the coveted “guide on the side” role in discussion forum facilitation.
June 2 - Creating Effective Responses to Student Discussion Postings
By: Errol Craig Sull in Asynchronous Learning and Trends
An integral part of nearly all online classes is the threaded discussion—it is where students interact on a nearly daily basis, posting their thoughts and information on main discussion topics, your postings, and the postings of other students. While you have measured control over the content, length, and tone of student postings, you have full control over your own.
April 25 - Creating a Sense of Time in Online Courses
By: Todd Conaway in Online Education
One of the most useful elements of online courses is that they’re available anytime. But along with the timelessness, there is also an absence of time in many activities and pieces of content in the course that can that can lead to feelings of disconnectedness. How closely do we connect actual time to our student’s online experiences?
March 23 - Improve Feedback with Audio and Video Commentary
By: John Orlando, PhD in Teaching with Technology
While online discussion is generally deeper and more active than face-to-face discussion, even online discussions can eventually become a drudgery. Nobody likes reading long blocks of text online, yet discussion in an online classroom is text based.
February 10 - Pump up Your Online Discussions with VoiceThread
By: Mary Bart in Asynchronous Learning and Trends, Teaching with Technology
At its best, the discussion board can be the heart and soul of the online classroom. But it’s not always easy getting students to make the type of contributions you expect. The comments can be rather flat, not very insightful, and more often than not, it feels like some students just fill the minimum number of posts stipulated in your syllabus.
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.
June 29 - Lessons Learned: Advice to Online Instructors
By: Rob Kelly in Online Education
If you have taken online courses, you have likely gained some valuable insights into what to do and what not to do as an online instructor. If you have never been an online learner, here are some lessons learned from Anna Brown, a learning technology specialist enrolled in a hybrid doctoral program in learning technologies.
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.
May 12 - Using VoiceThread to Build Student Engagement
By: John Orlando, PhD in Asynchronous Learning and Trends, Teaching with Technology
Online educators have long known that asynchronous discussion is deeper than face-to-face discussion due to the increased thought time and the “democratization” of the classroom. But one major disadvantage of traditional online discussion is that it is separate from the lecture.
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.
