Online Discussions!
Make the Most of Them!
Best Practices for Online Discussions!
The teacher can take a backseat completely and allow the students to control the discussion on their ow, possibly using a student moderator (one who is a "pro" with online discussions of course, and depending on the age of the participants) who possibly even rotates, allowing different students the opportunity to lead with the instructor serving in an advisor role.
NOTE: If the teacher takes the lead in the discussion, then the instructor risks shutting down an open, honest discussion of the subject because of student fear of reprisal if he/she disagrees with the teacher, makes a mistake, etc. It is almost never appropriate for the teacher to take a lead role in discussions per the available research.)
While it may be difficult for an instructor to take a "sit back and wait" approach to online discussions, he/she will soon see that students can and do express very thoughtful ideas about a given subject and that the students will benefit from being allowed to navigate a discussion with as little instructor influence as possible.
What if I need to step in?
What if a student makes a disparaging remark to another student in a post?
*Students must be aware of digital citizenship rules when participating in online discussions. There are many resources available on the Internet to help instructors teach the principles of good digital citizenship. Students must be held to those standards. And issues with rude or inappropriate comments must be dealt with promptly and clearly.
What if information in the post is factually incorrect?
*Discussion posts with factually incorrect material must also be addressed by instructors. The instructor should respond in the discussion thread and address the incorrect information in a respectful manner and then provide the correct information for students, so that the participants do not read the post and take the information as truth.
For example, a post with factually incorrect information appeared in a course. Instructors should never "call a student out" for an inadvertent mistake since we want to make the discussion forum a pleasant, enlightening one that allows for collegial conversation among online students. Instructors must be tactful and positive while also communicating the correct information.
This is the student post addressing the Columbian Exchange:
- The columbian exchange was a way that Spanish traded slaves and food.
- Some advantages of this trade is the fact that slaves, food, and sugar.
- Some disadvantages of this is that, while trading slaves, they traded diseases as well.
- Well, America got more slaves to make more sugar, and that sugar was transported to New England.
- New England then used the sugar and slaves to make goods, but they mainly made Rum for Africa.
- And in turn, Africa sold slaves to America, and the cycle starts again
My response follows:
STUDENT A, the Columbian Exchange did involve food and trade. At the point of Columbus' contact with the indigenous people of the Americas, it did not yet involve enslaved people. The spread of contagious diseases was indeed a problem, particularly for the indigenous people since they didn't have any immunity to the diseases transmitted by the Europeans.
What you are describing is the Triangular Trade which began years after Columbus arrived. I found graphics for you that illustrates the Columbian Exchange and the Triangular Trade:
First is the Triangular Trade:
IMAGE
And 2nd is the Columbian Exchange:
IMAGE
In this response, I explained that I understood what the student was describing and that it in fact IS correct but not for the Columbian Exchange. In fact the information described the Triangular Trade. I corrected the information and provided two images: one was a graphic diagram of the Triangular Trade and the second one was a graphic diagram of the Columbian Exchange.
I corrected the incorrect information while preserving the student's feeling of confidence that he/she did in fact get part of it right and I did so in a public setting. Chances are there are other students who had the same problem with confusing the two concepts.
One of the best benefits of the online discussion is that we get to have the input of even the most reserved students in our discussions since many students will never speak in our courses. In the online setting students have to post. We don't want to "shut them down" or diminish their self-confidence in this process because so much learning occurs in discussions. Also we want to make sure that students feel free to express their ideas in an honest manner.
Finally, it's important for teachers to MODEL the types of posts they want to see in discussions, more at the beginning as you train students to participate in discussions, slowly decreasing teacher input over time as students gain mastery of the discussion skill.