Online students often feel isolated from anyone who can share their immediate learning experiences. This is why one of the best practices for online courses recommends that a discussion forum focused on introductions is one of the first activities of any course to support the emotional component of learning (Boettcher & Conrad, 2016). This introductory discussion forum lays the foundation for student-to-student conversation, interaction, and support, creating a comfortable and trusting social presence (Garrison, Anderson & Arche, 2000).
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Use it when you want...
Students to interact with others to form social connections
Students to develop a broader understanding of other students’ experiences and backgrounds
Workflow
Identify and align the discussion with course outcomes or unit objectives. Example: Students will work collaboratively to develop proposals for community development.
Develop the discussion promo. Example: Share your personal experience with community development efforts in your town or city.
Identify when the discussion should occur and the desired elements and depth of the post. Example: A good post should name an experience, define its depth, and provide some judgment on its value or success.
Identify the kind of feedback or response necessary to accomplish the desired outcome. Example: Students will respond to one other student’s post and make a connection or contrast to their personal experience.
Determine your role in this discussion. Example: I will summarize my experiences in the following in-class session.
Identify what activities will occur before and after the discussion. Example: Before the discussion, students will review examples of past community development proposals in the Canvas Modules tool. I will then use the feedback to form the groups for their community development proposals.
Create the discussion post in Canvas.
In the discussion description, include statements on how the discussion supports specific course outcomes.
Develop and post an example of a successful post.
Guide students on how they should interact with the discussion post. Example: Students should post their responses by Wednesday at midnight and read and respond to students' posts by Thursday at midnight.
Identify how/if the post will be graphed. Example: This discussion will be worth five points. I will use the following rubric to evaluate your post:
the post identified a community development project,
the post summarized their experience or role in the project and
the post made a judgment on the effectiveness of the project.
