You think the reason for having discussions is obvious to students? I’d encourage you to test that assumption. Next time you’ve had a discussion, ask students why you had them discuss the topic rather than simply lecturing on it or have them read about it in the text. If I had to guess, I’d say that question will first be met with silence, followed by some glib answers, “You didn’t have time to prepare a lecture,” followed by other answers, none still very insightful, “It’s a way to keep us awake.” Maryellen Weimer, The Teaching professor Blog
One of the hands-on sessions that we have included in the CUTL technology course is a workshop on the use of the excellent communication and collaboration tools available in the Moodle/elearning system, in particular, the discussion forum tool. I love the Moodle forum tool for the choices it offers with respect to the way in which the forum will operate - Will the forum allow students to start their own topics or will all topics be started by the instructor? Will students have to post their responses to a question before they can view the responses of their peers? Will it be strictly a Q & A rather than a full, open discussion etc. All these decisions are made by the instructor when setting up the forum.Why I really love the forum tool, moreover, is the value it can add to a course by extending opportunities for discussion beyond the limited time available during face-to-face contact hours, and for encouraging students to engage with a topic even prior to coming to class. Yet, as Maryellen Weimer reminds us, students do not always appreciate the value of discussion, and this can impact negatively on the importance they ascribe and the effort they commit to participating in discussion, whether face-to-face or online. In her recent blog post Weimer suggests a few simple ways in which instructors can help student to appreciate the value of discussion to learning. Click here to read the full post.
Hi Pat, Although I see the potential in the forum as a learning tool which can allow for discussions to be extended beyond class. There are few students who faithfully post and who engage with each other. Even when I offer them bonus marks (extra marks...on top of what I am required to award them)participation is typically low. Maybe this is a signal that, indeed, they do not understand that I am trying to help them to learn through engaing with the topic and articulating their perspectives.
ReplyDeleteThanks for signing up for the blog Kristina! And thanks for the comment. It is a most frustrating and discouraging thing for faculty to take the time to post topics for online discussion, and then receive little response from students. This leads to a number of good questions for investigation, including why do some online forums generate enthusiastic response from students and others do not? What motivates some students to participate in online discussions while others remain apathetic? What makes a good question for [online]discussion? It also points to the fact that as we implement these new technologies, it is important to get feedback from students as we seek some of these answers. If you do plan to "have the talk" with your students on your reasons for online discussions, get some feedback from them on what they think about online discussions as well. Meanwhile, here's a link to a short two-pager on motivating students to participate online. Keep sharing your experiences, and let us know if anything works!
ReplyDeletehttp://commons.ucalgary.ca/documents/ITBL_MotivatingStudents.pdf