03/03/2020
It's surprising how many educators and learning developers don’t like engaging students in discussions. As a result, many courses and learning products lack options that allow students space to interact with other students or even with the instructor. And though it's remarkable, the rationale is easy to come by, people learn through lectures, contemplation, writing and researching, individual activities, and of course from simply reading. We are always learning, after all, absorbing knowledge and skills from pretty much anything! So why even bother with discussions? Why include interaction with other people? Especially online, where—if done poorly—discussions can often devolve into endless required posts that students slog through.
Discussion, along with other types of social interaction between instructors and students, is a necessary component to learning according to many learning theories. It gives students the chance to engage in active cognitive processing; it demands that they participate in making meaning out of content; and, it forces them to contextualize that meaning among a social group.
So, if you are trying to figure out how to create spaces for discussion and socially interactive learning or convince others that it's worth it, here are some key ways discussions have power:
A recent survey of online students at Moravian College—a private liberal arts college in Bethlehem, PA—found that students were highly interested in connecting with other students for both educational and professional purposes [4]. This desire to engage wasn’t true of all students; there are people who would rather not engage or who aren’t comfortable with the forum. Yet it is helpful to see that many students are genuinely interested in interacting with others online.
So how do we make it happen? Discussion and social interaction can be tricky. That’s as true in an in-person context as it is online. Here are 4 ideas that can get you thinking about incorporating discussions and social interaction into your online, hybrid, or digitally-enabled on-ground course:
Rather than asking students to respond to you or each other with text, ask them to respond using video, audio, or images. This can make the discussion feel more personal, like a real conversation, rather than just another assignment [5].
For example, perhaps you want students to demonstrate a technique in a health sciences or art class, this might lend itself well to a video response. We’ve seen instructors in language classes ask their students to post an oral presentation via a discussion board and allow other students to comment on it. This works particularly well for asynchronous courses. You might also consider asking your students to post audio-only responses. This can be helpful for students who are a bit camera shy. It works well for music courses or other subjects where sound plays a big role. Finally, images can certainly have their place in discussion board posts. We’ve worked with faculty that have asked their students to go on “scavenger hunts” and post images of the items they find. These are just a few ideas to get the ball rolling. With a bit of creativity, the sky is the limit.
You can get your students thinking more critically about a topic by asking them to respond from a perspective other than their own. Consider assigning students different roles, asking them to respond as they if they were that person or part of that group. We’ve seen this work particularly well in history and literature courses, though this can work in many different situations.
Using your discussion board as a forum for a debate has two potential benefits. It creates an atmosphere for a lively and engaging discussion. It also gives you, the instructor, the opportunity to guide students in how to respectfully and intelligently engage in a debate—a skill that sometimes seems to be dwindling in today’s political and societal atmosphere. If using a discussion board as a debate forum, you have the option of assigning students to debate from a particular viewpoint or you can allow them to debate from their own view. Either way, it’s helpful to have a rubric or guidelines set up to guide students toward respectful, well-developed responses. Expect that you or an assigned student will play the moderator.
If you feel this is the right fit for your particular group, consider giving some control and responsibility to your students. Several LMSs and other platforms allow students to start the discussion. You might consider assigning a student to be the discussion leader each week or for a particular topic. You might even leave it more open and allow the student to choose the topic themselves. Either way, you should have guidelines and a rubric in place so students know exactly what is expected of them.
These are just a few ideas to get you started thinking about the power of discussion in your courses or other learning products and experiences. Keep in mind that social engagement is a powerful way to help your students more actively participate in the learning process!
By David Castaneda and Sarah Rentz