Two metaphors.

The first: when made a requirement, discussion boards are the essays of online teaching. Posting on them can either be a rote exercise that seems clunky and irrelevant or they can be a useful forum for the development of critical thinking.

The second: when optional, discussion boards are the office hours of online teaching. Nobody shows up, until something is due – and then everyone has a question, requiring a response immediately.

Here are some guidelines, which will help you use discussion boards (a familiar and important tool for remote teaching) so that students can learn from you and with you and their peers.

Be clear about how you want students to use the discussion boards.

Clarity is key when teaching remotely. Students need to know what to do, how do it, and when to do it – and that’s key for discussion boards, too. Here are some issues that you should think about spelling out:

• How frequently do you want students to post (e.g., one original post, one reply)?
• What is the timing on the posts (e.g., at least one by Wednesday, a second by Monday)?
• What does a good post look like?
• How long should posts be?
• What guidelines should students follow on the discussion board?
• How will you be involved in the discussion board?
• How will you be grading the posts on the discussion board?

Be sure to read everything that students write (or have someone do so).

In large courses, it’s challenging to respond to everything students write – but students need to feel like their ideas matter (and that they’re not just tossing ideas into the void).

• Consider dividing a large number of students into groups, each with their own discussion board and, if possible, a TA that can monitor and respond to the students’ posts.
• Remember that your contributions don’t have to be full-throated 1000-word renditions of the topic at hand. You might think of your role as one that facilitates discussion rather than being a participant in it.
• If you can’t read all of the posts, have a student (on a rotating basis) write a summary of the week’s/module’s discussion.

Allow students time to adjust.

Discussion boards coax a particular kind of communication – different from the sort that students are used to in face-to-face classes or on social media. So, give them time to adjust. After watching you respond, seeing what kind of responses you highlight or offer, and interacting with other students, there is a good chance that they’ll start to get the hang of the special form of communication that can take place on discussion boards.

Track participation.

If you’re making discussion boards a required component (roughly equivalent to participation in a face-to-face class), this one is tricky. Some instructors tabulate the number of responses; others evaluate every response on a three point scale (adequate, good, excellent); others ask students to submit a portfolio of good posts. Whatever format you chose, remember that you should be telling students how you’re evaluating their work on the discussion board.

Offer open-ended and relevant questions.

Any worthwhile discussion begins with worthwhile questions. The good news is that some of same rules apply when coming up with questions for the discussion boards. Make them unique to the course. Be sure that they complement the course’s goals and help students with their assignments. Aim to keep them open-ended.

Sources

Darby, Flower and James M. Lang. Small Teaching Online. Jossey-Bass, 2020.

Darby, Flower. “The Secret Weapon of Good Online Teaching: Discussion Forums,” Chronicle of Higher Education. 24 August 2020.

Morrison, Aimée. “Facebook and Coaxed Affordances,” Identity Technologies, 2013.

Nilson, Linda and Ludwika Goodson. Online Teaching at Its Best. Jossey-Bass, 2018.

Written by: Joel Baetz

Edited by: Kristine Weglarz

Last Updated: 24 August 2020