Information Technology Services

By: Jennifer Albat

At this year’s Focus on Teaching and Technology Conference at UMSL, I attended a fantastic presentation given by Tami Eggleston, Professor of Psychology at McKendree University. It was titled: From Dull to Dynamic: New Ideas for Discussion Boards. She shared some great strategies about using discussion boards that I’ve summarized below:

• All discussion forums are not created equal. Depending on the question and the amount of time required to respond, assign points accordingly. Undergraduate discussions may not require as many points as a graduate response. Likewise, don’t use the same rubric for each forum. Tailor the rubric for what is required.
• Keep a class roster and list of forums. With large classes, responding to every student every time can get cumbersome. By using a checklist, keep track of interactions in each forum to make sure you’ve connected with everyone a few times throughout the semester.
• Feel overwhelmed with checking the discussion board? Set designated times and let the students know when they’ll hear from you.
• If you have writer’s block when writing a prompt, consider letting the students write the question or prompt. You might be surprised how tough they are on themselves. Note: This is more appropriate for upper-level classes.
• If the discussion prompt is more complicated, consider breaking the class up into groups. The students will thank you, too.
• Do you have the students introduce themselves at the beginning of class? Make sure you’re asking them to introduce themselves as it relates to the course content as well as personal tidbits. Make notes and bring it up later in your feedback. This makes the learning personal.
• Try some new techniques when asking students to write their posts. It will make it more fun for the students, and more entertaining for you to grade.
  • Tell a Grandma – When students are authoring their posts, who are they writing to? You! Ask them to write their response as if they were telling a grandmother or small child. The responses will most likely be more detailed and not just retold from the text or resources
  • Dear Abby – Sometimes topics in classes can get personal and students will want to tell you some deep details about their lives. For these types of topics instead ask them to write an advice column. It will be general advice so the students won’t be sharing too much. Bonus: Get students to read other posts by asking them to vote for the best advice.
  • Twitter Time – Shorten student responses by asking them to stay under 280 characters. It’s hard, but they keep it to the point.
  • Around the World – Help students be more culturally aware. Ask them to respond as if they were from another country. Topics like child rearing, adolescent behaviors, elderly can certainly have different perspectives. Note: Assign the countries prior to posting the question.
  • Role Playing – Assign specific roles and have students respond from that perspective. Again, assign the roles prior to posting the question. Examples:
    • specific: coach, athletic trainer, athlete, parent
    • theorists: behaviorist, ,humanist, cognitive
    • people: Freud, Rogers, Watson, Ellis
    • roles: questioner, devil's advocate, definer
    • perspectives: psychology, sociology, economics, political, historical, medical
  • Would You Rather – In this prompt, put two equally unattractive options against each other. By the middle of the week the responses get pretty stale. Shake it up and post new options.
  • Who Dunnit? – Make a clue game with PowerPoint presentation containing the clues and have students post who they think “dunnit” each week and why.
  • Closing Discussion Board – Have students answer true/false questions in the first week. In the last week post them again and have students answer what they learned.

As always, Instructional Designers from ITS’ Instructional Design & Learning Technologies group are here to assist in writing discussion board prompts and planning your learning activities. Complete the consultation form for an appointment.