Planning Online Discussions

Online discussions can be a powerful learning activity, but they are complicated and merit advanced planning.

Expectations

Consider these points to help communicate your expectations to students, as well as to calibrate your expectations of students.

1. Use a rubric. Let students see how they will be assessed. Students who have no online experience might not realize the discussion is an academic activity. Students who do have online experience may have experienced discussions differently than in your class. Obviously, grading will also be transparent and efficient with a rubric.
2. Provide clear directions. An effective discussion prompt aims students in the right direction. Add clear instructions for types of posts, amounts of posts, deadlines, and so on to make sure students know what you want. Become familiar with the Blackboard discussion tool so you can provide clear directions.
3. Have reasonable expectations of students. Some class discussions will roar like a bonfire, while others barely smolder. Your class may be one of their favorites, but that doesn't mean they'll spend all their time in your discussions. Students have demands on their time and attention from all corners of their lives. Expect many students to post the bare minimum quantity of posts and maybe not exactly the depth of thought you are hoping for, and to post close to the deadline. That gives you something to coach them on -- but don't let it frustrate you. Discussions are a learning opportunity. Not everyone will capitalize on it equally.
4. Let students know what to expect from you. When can students expect discussions to be graded? Will you be participating in the discussions? If so, what kind of participation should students expect from you? Spell these sort of things out so everyone knows what your role is. For online students, not much is worse than waiting for work to be graded or waiting for an instructor to reply in a discussion. Likewise, no instructor wants to receive emails from frustrated students wondering what's happening.

Scheduling

1. Be consistent. Use discussions on a regular basis. Usually, this is weekly. It could be bi-weekly, as well. Discussions can be most successful when students get into the habit of posting and replying. When discussions occur at random intervals, those habits might not form.
2. Set a cadence. Students may be used to a simple, single deadline for their homework one day at the end of the week. Since discussions require multiple visits to the LMS, draw a clear picture for students of weekly participation dates. Specify the due date for initial posts, as well as the due date for replies -- these are usually staggered to allow time for replies after initial posts have been made.
3. Plan your weekly interactions. Think about moments in the week when you have some time to check in on the discussions. Keep in mind most students are not going to post early in the week. Most of the posts and replies happen in a short period close to the due dates. (link to presence post) Check in on the discussion after two or three days, then after another two days. It might take ten minutes or it might take half an hour, depending on how many students have contributed and how many posts you intend to make.
4. Reserve time for grading. If the discussion ends on Sunday night, and a new discussion begins right after, and you want students to know how they did so they can adjust their performance, you definitely need to find time near the start of the week to grade discussions. Falling behind in grading discussions amounts to an unpleasant workload for yourself -- as well as the implicit message to your students that you don't value their discussion posts.

Instructor Presence in Online Discussions

Once you've written effective discussion questions, continue designing your online discussions by planning your own participation. Specifically, how often to post, what to post, and what to avoid.

How Often to Post

Being present in your online discussion doesn't mean you have to always be logged in, monitoring the posts. make a habit of using office hours or other pockets of time throughout your week to scan through your discussion and to join in where appropriate.

1. Post in the discussion often enough that students know you are present. Some good practices include replying to the first person to post every week. Just congratulate them for getting an early start. If the same person posts first every week, save your praise for the second or third student to post so that others
2. But don't dominate the discussion. With the exception of an FAQ forum (where you may need to answer every post) or a student introduction forum (where it is nice to see instructors reply to every student as they post -- just as a host might welcome each guest), do not try to reply to every post or every student in a given discussion. Doing so leads to the feeling that the instructor is dominating the instruction and turns peers off from replying to one another.
3. Try to respond to every student in your course, directly, at least once in the term. Not only is it easy to keep a class list and keep track of which students you have responded to, but it is a great idea. This will help you avoid always responding to the same few students -- a pitfall it is easy to fall into. And it helps you prevent ignoring any students. How would any of us like to be the only student the teacher never interacted with?
4. Numbers and rules. Some schools have tried to formulate the ideal amount of instructor participation. One large online institution arrived at a number of about 13-15%, meaning that if you have a class of 20 students, who are each required to make one post and two replies per discussion (a total of at least 60 student posts), the instructor would make about 7 to 9 posts in that discussion. If you make about 3 posts per day on 3 separate days, on average, you are doing great!

What to Post

Obviously, you aren't meant to answer your own discussion prompt. Neither should you loom over your students as if they were taking a timed test. Instead, assume the role of a nurturing mentor during online discussions.

1. Acknowledge great posts. This is one of the most powerful things an instructor can do in a discussion. When a student makes a substantial, thoughtful post, take a moment
2. Encourage deeper thought. Without ever saying that someone's answer is not good enough, you can elicit further exploration or extend a topic. Sometimes a student seems to be posting just enough to reply to the prompt but not enough to really explain their line of thinking. Likewise, sometimes a student hits upon a great concept, but doesn't pursue that new branch. In cases like these, you might post something like, "You've got some great thoughts in your post, Sam. Tell us more about how you came to this conclusion. Can you include an anecdote or example that shows us what led you in this direction?" or "You bring up an excellent point, Kelly! Class, what do you think about this idea?" Of course, you will be able to be more specific depending on the content of the post you are replying to.
3. Seek opportunities to clarify. As you scan student posts, be on the lookout for anyone seeking guidance. You can reply directly to clear things up or you can post something that acknowledges you have seen the struggling student, but would like peers to address the issue (when applicable). You might reply by saying, "That's a great question, Taylor. Class, who can clear this up for us? Please reply with your thoughts." You may even flag your reply to draw attention to it. Keep an eye on the post in the coming days to make sure the issue is resolved.
4. When necessary, add another log to the fire. This applies especially in discussions where the instructor poses a "starter thread" and momentum fades after a few days. After all, even great discussion topics sometimes run out of steam. Some instructors make a new "starter thread" mid-week. one technique is to stick with your original topic, but tease out new directions, dimensions, or considerations.

What Not to Post

Try to steer clear of a few posts that may seem like a good idea at the time, but that can backfire... or worse.

1. Don't correct or discipline students in public. If you need to do so, save it for your feedback on the discussion or send them a private email.
2. Don't nag the class to start posting. It just comes across like an impatient child at their own birthday party telling others what to do. Students will post in their own good time -- often right before a deadline.
3. Don't get long-winded in your posts. Again, you may make students feel like you are dominating the discussion. But, also, people aren't likely to read through long posts in the first place. If you have a necessary and important point to make or content to add, see about adding it into your course content instead.

Grading Online Discussions

Make a plan for grading your discussions long before the term starts. Once the term begins, use the tips below to make grading as efficient as possible.

Tips for Grading Discussions

1. Use a rubric. Develop a rubric or use one provided by Online Learning. Use clear grading descriptors with three to five levels of performance and three to five categories for assessment. These are suggested numbers, but the point is to make a rubric that draws clear distinctions so that discussions can be easily and reliably graded.
2. Set aside time for grading and feedback. Build this into your own weekly schedule. If you have a few office hours or a few hours between classes, work in time to grade discussions. make a point of having grades posted
3. Use Blackboard views. Trying to scan through a discussion over and over for each student's contributions will wear you out. Luckily, there is a better way! Learn how to view all of a single student's posts at once in the grading view.
4. Keep a feedback pool. Feedback in a discussion should be specific. Of course, it can take a lot of time to type up comments to all students each week.