Discussions are a great way to incorporate student-to-instructor and student-to-student interaction. Within an online environment, discussions can potentially be in speaking form or written form dependent upon the instructional technology selected. As within the traditional classroom, discussions allow for reflection and response to the instructor and to one another. Discussions also allow for the opportunity to relate the topic to real life experiences. Online, asynchronous discussions are an important component of hybrid course design since they allow us to bridge the face-to-face and online components of the course.
Application
During the design of the hybrid course, you will need to consider the following in building and using discussions:
- Instructional Discussions are used to meet specific course objectives and should be aligned with course content.
- Your students’ content knowledge should drive the development of questions (e.g. probe facts, ask for causal relationships between ideas or events, probe motives or causes, etc.). Use open-ended questions which are targeted to higher-order thinking skills.
- Plan to structure discussion topics by lesson or module.
- You may need to model a discussion since students may not be familiar with the discussion format.
- Students will not be aware of your expectations for online discussions (e.g. quantity and quality of posts, netiquette, etc.) so plan to develop a grading rubric to convey these expectations.
- Students may need prompts from you so plan to remind students of on-going discussions.
- Plan to monitor discussions by making yourself visible but do not dominate the discussion.
- Plan to provide timely feedback.
- Plan to summarize the discussion.
Before online class…
Convey expectations for online discussions to the students (quantity and quality of posts, netiquette) and articulate specific start and end dates during the face-to-face session. Review the grading rubric.
During online class…
- Monitor by making yourself visible in the discussion but be careful not to dominate the discussion.
- Remind students of on-going discussions using announcements or email reminders.
After online class…
- Provide timely feedback by using the grading rubrics developed to convey discussion board expectations. This is one technique for you to use to model your expectations of student posts.
- Summarize the discussion either in an email to the class or as the last post in the discussion board. If appropriate, you may want to include specific comments from student posts. This is one technique for you to use to model your expectations of student posts. This summary can also be part of the face-to-face component of your course.
- Another option is to bring the summary and feedback aspects of the online discussion into the classroom to help bridge the online and face-to-face components of your hybrid course.
As the semester progresses in a hybrid course and students become more familiar with your expectations for online discussions, it is possible to structure discussion questions based on discussions started in the face-to-face component of the course. Allowing students to continue classroom discussions asynchronously online is another technique used to bridge the online and face-to-face components in a hybrid course.
Additional best practices, strategies and management tips can be found at the Mastering Online Discussion Board Facilitation Resource Guide.
Instructional Technologies for Discussions
There are several instructional technologies that can be utilized for discussions including:
- Blogs
- Discussions
- VoiceThread
Each of these tools in relation to discussions will be touched upon below. To learn more about online discussions visit the Faculty Focus > Online Discussions resources.
Blogs
Blogs allow regular entries to be made about various topics and are usually used by individuals. They encourage discussion by allowing students to comment on each others posts to engage with one another. Blogs foster a community of learners, provide a platform for collaboration and communication, and offer a comfortable outlet so that learners feel free to express opinions, reflect, and offer insight. Visit Sites at PSU to get started with the blogs.
In regards to online discussions, classroom blogging falls into four models on a continuum from most instructor-centered and simplest learning curve to most student-centered and steepest learning curve. The last model on the continuum is e-Portfolios and could be considered as its own online instructional strategy; however, it can also fall into the realm of online discussions if students focus on commenting on artifacts within a particular discipline such as education, as well as if they have an on-going blog component. It is important that the e-Portfolios are shown in context with the three other models so you can select which method is appropriate for your hybrid course.
The best blogging experience is one where students’ achievements far outweigh the effort they put into learning the platform and setting it up. When choosing a model, consider the following:
- How much time will it take to learn the platform and set up a blog?
- Will blogging be used in just one lesson? Throughout the course? Throughout the program?
- How much emphasis do you want to place on an end product students can use in job interviews and performance interviews?
Instructor-Led Blogs | Class Blogs | Individual Blogs | Individual e-Portfolios | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Student Ownership | Most Instructor-Centered | More Instructor-Centered | More Student-Centered | Most Student-Centered |
Difficulty | Easiest | Easier | Harder | Hardest |
Skills Required for Instructors | Posting, Commenting | Posting, Commenting, Adding Authors | Commenting | Commenting |
Skills Required for Students | Commenting | Posting, Commenting | Posting, Commenting, Creating Blog | Posting, Commenting, Creating e-Portfolio, Creating Pages |
Instructor-Led Blogs
With instructor-led blogs, there is only one blog, and the instructor is the only author of that blog. The learning curve for this model is the simplest of all the models. Someone will need to know how to create a blog and grant permissions. The instructor will need to know how to post and how to comment. The students will need to know how to comment. This model is the most instructor-centered of all the models as students only have ownership of their comments, which exist in the instructor’s blog space.
Class Blogs
With class blogs, there is only one blog, but every student is an author of that blog. The learning curve for this model is simple. Someone will need to know how to create a blog and grant permissions. Everyone will need to know how to post and how to comment. This model is more instructor-centered than many models, as students only have ownership of their posts and comments, but they exist in the class blog space.
Individual Blogs
With individual blogs, every student is an author of his or her own blog. The learning curve for this model is more complex. Everyone will need to know how to create a blog and grant permissions. Everyone will need to know how to post and how to comment.
This model is more student-centered than many models, as students have ownership of their posts that exist in their own blog space and the comments they make in their classmates’ spaces. It is suggested that an aggregation page be created that consists of a list of links to all student individual blogs for easy access.
Individual e-Portfolios
With individual e-Portfolios, every student is an author of his or her own blog as well as additional static pages, such as contact information, a bio, and a CV. The learning curve for this model is the most complex. Everyone will need to know how to create an e-Portfolio and grant permissions. Everyone will need to know how to create static pages, how to post, and how to comment. This model is the most student-centered, as students have ownership of their static pages and their posts, which exist in their own blog space, and comments they make in their classmates’ spaces. The e-Portfolio aggregates and showcases their academic work into a single professional website that they can share with interview committees or during performance reviews. In addition to the Sites @ PSU platform, students also need to know how to create the artifacts. Creating artifacts can include skills in scanning, photography, creating video or creating to share.
Penn State has a number of platforms available for students to create e-Portfolios:
- Sites @ Penn State – log in using your PSU user ID and password; can be exported to a WordPress site after graduation
- Adobe Spark or Portfolio – sign up for a PSU Adobe Creative Cloud account; can be migrated to a personal Adobe account after graduation
- Google Sites – use a personal Google account, or sign up for a PSU Google account with your PSU credentials; can transfer ownership to a personal Google account after graduation
- Microsoft Sway – log in using your PSU user ID and password; can duplicate the Sway to share with a personal Microsoft account after graduation
To learn more about portfolios, please visit Portfolios at Penn State.
Discussions
Facilitating
One of the most common and effective ways of supporting a community of learners in your class is through the use of discussions. Facilitating an effective discussion in your class can be very rewarding for you and the students.
To generate ideas for creating, sustaining, and assessing a discussion forum, check out Online Discussion Questions and Generating and Facilitating Engaging and Effective Online Discussions.
Find out more about setting up Discussions in Canvas at What are Discussions?. If you are using a different Learning Management System (LMS) other than Canvas, review your institution’s directions.
Grading
Discussions can be graded in Canvas and linked to the grade book. Canvas can provide you with a detailed report of each student’s participation in the discussion. Grades for the discussion can also be linked to a scoring rubric that you can create.
For examples of a discussion grading rubric, view Discussion Forum – Example Rubrics.
For more on Discussions in Canvas, please refer to the following guides: Discussions.
VoiceThread
VoiceThread is a tool that can be utilized in multiple ways including presenting online content, holding online conversations, or a mixture of both. The discussion aspect of VoiceThread allows students to go beyond text and use media rich interactions including audio and/or video to add their contributions to the discussion.
To give a bit of background, VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slideshow that holds images, documents, and videos. It allows people to navigate slides or videos and leave comments using voice (mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (webcam). Please view the Penn State VoiceThread – Simply Speaking Video to learn more about this collaborative tool.
In regards to discussions, you can add slides within VoiceThread that have discussion prompts and have students comment on a particular slide.
VoiceThread has a new Canvas learning too integration (LTI) that allows faculty to assign Watch, Comment, and Create assignments to students from inside their Canvas course. See the linked videos below to learn more about each type of assignment.
For faculty:
- Documentation: How to use VoiceThread New Assignments
- Video: How to set up a VoiceThread Watch assignment
- Video: How to set up a VoiceThread Comment assignment
- Video: How to set up a VoiceThread Create assignment
- Video: Grading VoiceThread assignments
For students:
- Video: How to submit a VoiceThread Watch assignment
- Video: How to submit a VoiceThread Comment assignment
- Video: How to submit a VoiceThread Create assignment
If you haven’t already, visit VoiceThread at Penn State and create an account.
Yammer
Yammer @ PSU is a collaborative environment for connecting with people across the University community and sharing meaningful information. This is mostly text based, but sharable documents may be created. Yammer @ PSU can be used in a classroom-based online discussion as an alternative to discussion forums.
Yammer can be used for small group discussions, an entire class discussion, and other ways such as an online area for small group work. In regards to discussions, you can utilize status updates to post a discussion prompt and have students respond to the prompt and to one another similar to other discussion-based tools.
To learn more about this collaborative tool, review the Penn State Teaching and Learning Yammer Use Cases and Yammer First Steps.