Instructional Technology Conference
Middle Tennessee State University
Building Communities of Learners
April 3-5, 2005
Facilitating Online Discussion
| Lucia Vanderpool, Associate Professor Track 1 |
Abstract
What better way to build a community of online learners than through interactive discussions?
Participants in this hands-on workshop will have the opportunity to create topics, set up discussion groups/teams as a course facilitator, and also experience, first hand, the practice of actively engaging in online discussions as a student.
WebCT will be the example tool used for hands-on practice, but the class activities and information presented will be applicable for Blackboard as well as other course management programs.
Description
What better way to build a community of online learners than through interactive discussions? In fact, the Discussions tool or Discussion Board has proven to be one of the most effective communication tools for online learning by promoting dialogue not only between instructor and student, but also between student and student.
Participants in this hands-on workshop will have the opportunity to create topics, set up discussion groups/teams as a course facilitator, and also experience, first hand, what it is like to take part in online discussions as a student. A sample online course will be used, and each participant will be given two IDs – one for student access and one for instructor access.
This workshop will address some of the effective uses of discussion boards and look at some of the most successful ways in which this tool has been used. Topics will include:
* Creating and Managing Discussion Topics
* Maintaining Threads of Conversation
* Creating and Managing Discussion Groups/Teams
* Advantages/Disadvantages of Group Participation
* Setting Expectations for Student Participation
* Percent of Total Grade
* Frequency and Number of messages
* Maintaining Student Credibility during Threaded Discussions
* Creating Guidelines for Discussion Netiquette
WebCT will be the example tool used for hands-on practice, but the class activities and information presented will be applicable for Blackboard as well as other course management programs.