Reading, Writing and Collaborating Through Discussion Boards
Ida M. JonesProfessor of Business Law
Director, Center for the Scholarly Advancement of Learning and Teaching
California State University, Fresno
Outcomes Today
• Overview of discussion boards in the context of teaching, learning & creating a learning community
• Examine two uses of discussion boards• Review structures to create effective
discussion board assignments
Have you taught a fully online course?
Vote Yes or No
Have you used online discussion boards?
Vote Yes or No
How would you describe your success at using discussion boards?
Vote A. I had great success!B. It worked but I don’t think any
learning actually occurredC. Discussion Board? I don’t even
know what it is!
Effective Teaching
• Lectures– Manage learning– Control
• amount of info• How learners get the info
– Present to large numbers of learners• Socratic method: questions and answers
under fire; probing to encourage learning
Lecture-physical presence
Orally delivered content
Students listening, discussing in person
Students watching, taking notes, following instructor modeling the analysis
Learning Theory
info info
Objectivism vs. Constructivism
Surface learning vs. Deep learning
Questions so far before we get to two ways I’ve used discussion
boards?
One use of Discussion Boards: Collaborative Quizzes
• Collaborate to develop answers – Basic questions– Some case discussions
• Randomly assigned groups of 5-7 • Each week,
– Discuss answers to quiz questions – Prepare a group answer to each question.
• The individual quiz -3 randomly selected questions• Grades based on results of
– Writing original answers– Commenting/adding to other answers– Developing group answers– Taking quiz; submitting group answer as response
Overall, the group quizzes were an effective way to learn the material.
Agree48%
Disagree4%
Neither Agree nor Disagree
22%
Strongly Agree22%
Strongly Disagree
4%
Agree
Disagree
Neither Agree nor Disagree
Strongly Agree
Strongly Disagree
Overall, the members of my group were helpful in identifying areas of agreement and disagreement on
course topics that helped me to learn.
Agree. 33%
Disagree. 8%
Neither Agree nor Disagree.
13%
Strongly Agree. 46%
Agree
Disagree
Neither Agree nor Disagree
Strongly Agree
Another Use of Discussion Boards: Writing, Research and Critical Thinking
Alternative to the Research Paper
Website: Alternative to the Research Paper https://sites.google.com/site/bbworld2012alternativetothe/home
Tie assignment to expected outcome
• Testing knowledge and understanding of concepts • Discussing and solving a problem, case or factual
scenario • Encouraging discussion, reflection and analysis of
concepts and developing new insights into those concepts
• Applying concepts learned in the text to other readings to reinforce understanding of the concepts
• Developing a research project • Completing a lab exercise
What a Tech Start-Up’s Data Say About What Works in Classroom Forums
• Article in Chronicle of Higher Ed http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/what-a-tech-start-ups-data-say-about-what-works-in-classroom-forums/38960?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
– Formal, structured grading-less value than the informal structure
– Anonymous comments/questions worked better at more selective institutions, e.g. MIT
– Requiring that students introduce themselves resulted in more robust discussions
Have you learned anything you would use now?
Additional Questions or Comments?