Discussions 

Online discussions are a wonderful opportunity to extend learning and create authentic learning experiences. Discussions provide opportunities for students to demonstrate learning, ask questions, support each other, and receive feedback. Instructor participation in online discussions are another way to personalize and create instructor presence in distance courses. Discussions also provide opportunities for instructors to formatively assess students, scaffold learning, track attendance, and evaluate the learning process. Instructor/Student and student/student interactions are enhanced with online discussions allowing for sharing of ideas and perspectives. Students are often more engaged in their learning when they can interact and feel part of a community within their course which can increase motivation. 

Challenges of Online Discussions

Of course, online discussions can also be challenging. Here are some of the challenges of online discussions:

• It can be difficult to get students to participate. Some students may be reluctant to participate in online discussions, especially if they are shy or if they do not feel comfortable writing in a public forum.

• It can be difficult to keep discussions on track. Without the instructor's presence, discussions can sometimes go off-topic or become bogged down in irrelevant details.

• It can be difficult to assess student participation and determine how much students are learning from online discussions, especially if they are not required to post a certain number of times or to respond to other students' posts.

Ways to Overcome the Challenges

Despite these challenges, the benefits of online discussions outweigh the challenges. When used effectively, online discussions can be a valuable tool for learning in online courses. Here are some tips for designing effective online discussions:

• Ensure everyone is ready. Do you know how to navigate the discussion board in the learning management system? You will most likely need to support some of the students in the course. Are you prepared to help them navigate?

• Provide clear guidelines for participation. Let students know how often they are expected to post, how long their posts should be, and what kind of content is expected.

• Set ground rules for discussions. This could include things like being respectful of other students' opinions, avoiding off-topic discussions, and using proper grammar and spelling.

• Make sure the discussions are relevant to the course content. The discussions should be designed to help students learn the course material, not just to socialize.

• Write good discussion questions. Discussion questions need to be written in a way to provide students opportunities to show what they are learning and provide unique responses. Questions should be open ended with opportunities for diversity in responses. After all, if the responses to the question are all the same, what opportunities are there for discussions.

• Plan to participate. Instructors should participate in the discussions. It is a great way to interact with the students and scaffold their learning. Try to interact with all students throughout the semester but it is not necessary to respond to every student in every post. That can be overwhelming! Consider keeping a log of interactions so you are sure to connect with everyone at some point. Another strategy is to post "landscape replies". This is where you begin a new thread and reply to multiple topics of student posts within that post.

• Monitor the discussions regularly. This will help to keep the discussions on track and to ensure that students are participating.

• Develop a plan for grading and providing feedback. It is important to provide timely, specific feedback to each student, especially the first few discussions so students understand what they can do to improve. This can be part of the grading process and where a rubric will be helpful. 

Brightspace Discussions

Brightspace offers great discussion options and provides instructors with the ability to set parameters and other options for discussions. 

Groups - The Discussion tool in Brightspace allows you to create group discussions and journals with restriction options you can set for participants. 

Forums - You can create a Forum to organize your discussion. Forums are used to set discussion paraments for all discussions in that section. Options can include linking the entire forum to groups, allowing anonymous posts, requiring student to post a response before they can see the posts of other students,  an release conditions. Students do not participate in Forums.

Topics - Topics are housed in forums and are where the work it completed. The question or prompt is included in the topic and student reply there. You also have the option to set the same parameters as forums for individual topics. You can also connect the discussion to a grade item, set availability conditions, add a rubric, and adjust settings for evaluating posts. 

Questions/Prompts - Good discussions hinge on good questions/prompts. You want to develop questions that offer opportunities for different responses and critical thinking. Good questions also support information literacy. The text box is where you ask the question/prompt. You can add links, images, equations, tables, videos, and text to the text box. You also have the option to add a video note directly in Brightspace (NOTE - you are not able to share screen with video note). 

Netiquette/Zoom Etiquette

Netiquette refers to the "rules" of online communications. Think of it as online etiquette. Often instructors include netiquette information as a way to manage online communications. Sometimes the focus is specifically for discussions but you can also include your netiquette expectations for online meetings, emails, and group work. As you develop your syllabus, introductory content, activity descriptions, etc., consider clarifying your expectations (netiquette) for online behavior as well as in-person or classroom behavior if necessary. Students are expected to be professional and respectful when attending class or participating in distance courses. Clarifying your expectations for participation will support student success and minimize challenges. Netiquette is important in online environments to create positive learning experiences.

Netiquette expectations can include:

• Be respectful of others. Use polite and appropriate language, avoid personally attacking classmates, and respect other's opinions. Consider potential offensive language that could be based on cultural or personal beliefs. Avoid slang and profanity. If you feel strong emotions regarding a response, consider stepping away and coming back to the topic at a later time.

• Identify yourself in all communications. In discussion boards, your name is often clearly stated. In emails, students should include an appropriate subject line, greeting, salutation, and clearly state the course/section they are in, and what their email is about. Campus email should be used.

• Cautiously use sarcasm or humor. It is very easy to be misunderstood in an online setting.

• Use proper grammar and spelling. Avoid using all CAPS as it is often perceived as shouting.

• Be clear, concise, and stay on topic. It is sometimes helpful in discussion forms to create a unique subject for your posts for ease of identifying. 

• Expectations for when on Zoom or other online meetings. 

UMA's Learning Experience Designers and the eLearning Committee have developed a draft of Recommended Course Policy Language and Course Management Strategies. Feel free to copy, edit, and remix any of this language to meet your needs for your course. This resource is included here and available in every course shell in the Instructor Resources module.

Additional resources are available via the links below.