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The author discusses the theory behind online discussions, as well as the potential value of - and problems associated with - online discussions. Some excerpts: "The argument I offer here is that saying an online discussion is a worse version of an IRL discussion is like saying an apple is a worse version of an orange. Disappointment with online discussions because they are not like IRL discussion is like being disappointed with an apple because it is a bad orange." ... "In an IRL discussion, students look, speak, and listen with multiple objects. In online discussion, like during a lecture, students sit and stare at a single object as well: but it is a computer rather than a person speaking. The lecturer is the computer. This lecturer is a screen with a keyboard and includes a complex series of frames within which the student types sentences in varying sequences. By this I am not only talking about video lectures which students watch, but rather more perceptually. In a lecture, the lecturer is the sole object of attention. There is only one object of attention: bracketing the complex material engaged with in the screen, it remains true that students exclusively engage with the screen when learning online. Students in online courses stare at a computer when learning online the same way they would stare at a lecturer speaking, focusing their attention on a single object. At a lecture, it's a person. Online, it's the computer."... "In any case, online discussions are still discussions. It would be a mistake to say all we do during online discussion is stare intensely at a computer. Most of the discussions in my online courses occur asynchronously on discussion boards. On these written discussion boards, for example, we read and write responsively. The whole situation of online discussion is therefore more akin, in this respect, to written correspondence."

From the conclusion: "Participating well in online discussions might be more like writing a good letter or having a good phone conversation, as opposed to a good spoken kind comment in an IRL discussion. We should not expect online discussions to be anything at all like IRL discussions. They are categorically different. In other words, being disappointed with online discussions because they are not like IRL discussions is like being disappointed with apples because they are not oranges." "In planning online courses, generating online assignments, and creating materials for online teaching, it is important to remember that online discussions require students to focus intense attention on a machine, and therefore compels them to cathect and introject that machine. Independently of the fluidity of your module and software, students transfer meanings onto their machines during the learning process rather than a person. While the introjection of machines is an interesting opportunity for further educational research, as an instructor, plan for student participation with this in mind: they are interacting with a machine and not people. An online discussion is more like a computer's lecture than an IRL discussion, no matter how interactive."

This article has GREAT examples of instructions to students about discussion posts and rubrics for discussion posts. It also says to let the students create the questions for discussions, rather than providing questions for them.

This article addresses practical concerns about online discussions. It stresses the importance of having good discussion questions that are clearly linked to the learning objectives. There are also some good assessment tips.

I like the title, but I couldn't access it -- sign in required??

Yes, Peggy, the article comes from one of the main databases through the Emory Library.

I'm sharing this slideshow from a presentation I gave last year on Facilitating Metacognition in Asynchronous Online Discussions because 1) the topic is relevant to our discussion this week, and 2) SlideShare is one of our Mashup options in Blackboard. I tested it this week and it shows up well, so wanted to demonstrate for any faculty interested. The analytics are a nice additional feature. FYI for those experimenting with social media ideas with your learners, I have also embedded SlideShare links into Tweets, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that you can view an entire slideshow in a tweet.

This is the article I mentioned in my discussion post for week 6! Even though the statistical significance in many cases is small, I think it is helpful in thinking through some of the questions of HOW to participate in online discussion.

Rodney Murray discusses trends in eLearning and technology. Parallels some of what we have been discussing in class.

The following list contains brief use cases of faculty and instructors throughout Penn State using VoiceThread in unique ways for teaching and learning. These use cases describe the basic designs utilized by the instructor, reported outcomes as well as possible future uses for VoiceThread.

Among the many case studies included here I found the article by Matt Meyer "Using VoiceThread for Weekly Peer Topic Discussions" the most helpful. The article details how small 'discussion groups' of 6-7 students per group were provided with an initial prompt and some framing statements. Individuals were required to respond to the prompt according to specific requirements, such as "include one personal story," "include 2 questions to the other group members to respond to," and "must comment in that particular VoiceThread discussion 3 different times during the assignment for the week. This is very similar to what I envision doing in my course.

McLaughlin, Jacqueline E. PhD, MS; Roth, Mary T. PharmD, MHS; Glatt, Dylan M.; Gharkholonarehe, Nastaran PharmD; Davidson, Christopher A. ME; Griffin, LaToya M. PhD; Esserman, Denise A. PhD; Mumper, Russell J. PhD In recent years, colleges and universities in the United States have faced considerable scrutiny for their apparent failure to adequately educate students.

I read this article and found it to be enormously interesting and enlightening. The course coordinator was a seasoned veteran; there were numerous resources dedicated to this venture (full time graduate TAs, dedicated IT personnel) and yet the authors report that the coordinator still required 127% more time to prepare the online components of this course. I also noticed that many of the active learning strategies discussed (think-pair-share, as an example) are things that could easily be incorporated into a non-flipped classroom.

One idea came to mind as I read the article about offloading lecture material for students so that synchronous class time can be used for discussion and problem solving: the use of case studies. Public health, business, and development work often relies on group engagement in response to case studies. The background could be presented, along with vital tools for assessing and analyzing the situation, then on-line classes could be used for rich discussion of the range of solutions and opportunities. I'm thinking of a model of a traditional pilgrimage in which pilgrims keep coming together in larger numbers the closer they get to their destination.

I couldn't figure out how to simply upload a document here, so I have created an open dropbox folder and put the Brookfield piece on discussion-based teaching, which I mentioned in several places in Module 3, in that. I hope you can see it!

Yes, Jen, we can see it! Thanks so much, looking forward to digging into it - or is that diigo'ing into it?

R.A.D.A.R. Learning Cycle = Read Apply Discuss And Reflect - this a template of a method that you can use to formulate learning assessment by using the discussion forums, blogs or written assignments. It is definitely a (Student-student and Student-content interaction)

A couple of comments here: I apologize if the link doesn't open right away. I got the article through PubMed at WHSLibrary. The article presents an interesting approach to the use of Bloom's taxonomy for grading discussion boards integrating collaborative learning process and higher-order thinking. It also does a good job discussing how to evaluate a rubric.,

An interesting idea: student collaboration to lead and facilitate online discussions. This study says the student leaders elicited meaningful dialogue, high levels of participation and quality conversation.

A discussion of fair use practices for online video. This should be helpful for anybody who is planning on using video clips as illustrations or for discussions or assignments.

Thanks, Dan. This is an excellent overview that offers reasonable guidelines while highlighting the gray areas within the area of fair use, a very flexible term. The focus is on intent but, more importantly, that the educational/critical aspect must be clearly defined and communicated. I do use quite a lot of video so this is very helpful to me.

This book was cited in "Strategies for Creating a Community of Inquiry through Online Asynchronous Discussions," which also included an example of a protocol from the book that sounded like a great one to use in class.

Discusses the difficulty of changing the educational paradigm to a servant professor instead of a professor led classroom--both virtual and real. How steep will be the learning curve to replace lecture-test evaluation with student driven and student centered needs.

Discussion about virtual universities and revenue. Who will really pay for the education.