Communicate 4.2.3 - Discussions Quest
- What role or purpose do discussion forums serve in the online classroom and are they effective?
- How do discussion forums function as a teaching tool?
- How could they be used effectively and ineffectively? Furthermore, what are some best practices for facilitating forums online?
Discussions serve as a way for students to communicate with each other. It provides a sense that they are not alone in the class. Honestly, I do not know if they are effective for this purpose. I would need to interview the students to ask them. I do think that they overall enjoy the discussions, especially the students that enjoy writing. I would imagine that for some students the discussions to provide a sense of belonging. Either way, it does provide them with a way to interact with each other. It is nice for them to hear a "voice" other than mine.
Discussions serve a a teaching tool only if the discussion is written effectively. I have seen discussion tasks that have specific answers or ask for a summary of an article. These do not lead themselves to actual discussion as everyone has the same answer. Good discussion questions should have multiple answers, different ways to look at a topic, or opportunities for students to share different details that pertain to a common topic. If a discussion is written in this way, it definitely functions as an effective teaching tool where students are doing much of the teaching. I always tell my students that the best way to learn something is to teach it. I think the discussion post emphasize this point.
To facilitate discussions, we as teachers should not provide "answers". Instead, we should ask questions that help students find the answers for themselves. We can also ask follow up questions that ask students to think about the topic in a different way. I have recently been providing videos that enhance a student's post to give them a visual of the words they have written. This is especially important for lab based questions.