revamping the tired discussion board
DESCRIPTION
Revamping the Tired Discussion Board. Corinne Hyde, Ed.D . Brandon Martinez, Ed.D . Kimberly Ferrario , Ph.D. Why use discussion boards (now)? . Asynchronous learning Build background knowledge prior to class time Have students grapple with concepts prior to class time - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Revamping the Tired Discussion Board
Corinne Hyde, Ed.D.Brandon Martinez, Ed.D.Kimberly Ferrario, Ph.D.
Why use discussion boards (now)?
• Asynchronous learning• Build background knowledge prior to class
time• Have students grapple with concepts prior to
class time• Accountability for doing the readings• Evaluation- do students understand
concepts?
What do discussion boards usually look like?
• Text based• Threaded• One or two discussion questions - students
all answer the same questions• Students will respond if required to, but
rarely otherwise• When students do respond to each other
they tend to state their agreement
Typical Discussion Board
What would we like to be able to do with discussion boards?
• dynamic• multimedia• open ended• connected to the world• relevant outside the classroom
What we did:
• part of Open Course Redesign Model • continuous course redesign cycle• student and instructor feedback - discussion boards
are boring to read, tedious to grade• looked for ways to incorporate Web 2.0 tools
– increase engagement– connections with student interests– open ended– teaches more than one thing (content and technology)– wiki-esque model
What the discussion board assignment looks like now
• Involves students finding resources from around the web
• Involves students making connections between theory and these resources
• Can function within any discussion board system you’re already using
• zero cost
What people are saying:
• Students: – More interesting posts– desire to read others’ posts– finding new resources
• Faculty– Easier to grade– More interesting to read– Finding new resources to share with future classes– Students make connections with shared resources we didn’t
even know existed– Students now reference others’ posts in class more often.
Option to incorporate cutting edge technology - Voicethread
Voicethread benefits
• multimedia commenting• ease of use for students• ease of grading for faculty• visually appealing
Voicethread drawbacks
• no threaded conversations• cannot direct responses (tag) to certain
individuals• when given the option, students will default
to using text instead of multimedia commenting tools.
Recommendations for revamping your discussion boards
• Keep the rigor• Add choice• Add multimedia options• Encourage the use of Web 2.0 tools• Be willing to consider “odd” sources• Steal what your students share - it will make
your teaching more relevant!