Addresses the popular conception of learning styles and the lack of empirical support for teaching to students' styles. Touches on the role of metacognition in learning. The references constitute a short list of key readings on the topic.
Students hate discussion boards and mostly feel like they don't get anything out of them. They go into check box mode and real dialogue is lost. How can we fix them?
I agree we need to improve discussion boards. I like smaller groups. I have also found in my courses that the students usually are more engaged when I am engaged with them first.
I also struggle keeping students engaged in discussion boards. I think allowing them some autonomy on choosing their selected topic and/or allowing the post to be completed in various ways helps.
The article title made me do a double-take! The links for article that provide more direction for improving discussion boards are great! Discussion boards can be so useful, but if not done properly can definitely lead to frustration and/or poor quality of postings by students. Examples and rubrics really help to clarify expectations. I would love to find a way to create a discussion board that helps students feel more connected to me and their peers.
Glad you all got some use from it. It's a sensationalistic title, but it's something I thought about often as a student. We don't discuss in discussion boards - we write polite, well cited essays and respond to other essays. I'm definitely in favor of rethinking how we do student engagement - discussion boards really could be wonderful, but in most of my experiences as a student they were really lack luster. As an instructor, I'm not sure mine are really much better! I keep tinkering trying to do better.
I used discussion board for 2 full semesters. I received feedback from my students in both ways: course reflection and my performance evaluation. The feedback was very positive. The assignment for the discussion boards would include an actual company with specific operations (inventory, quality, process design, etc.). Students were free to answer any questions and required provide a feedback to at least one of the classmates answer. Students felt connected to their classmates, shared different views, had an opportunity to learn from each other.
The title is a bit misleading but some of the recommendations discussed can definitely spark some life into DBs. DBs are a good way to foster engagement but unless properly done can mostly be seen by students as a one and done exercise.
Check out Kahoot! It is a great way to use technology in a F2F classroom. It is an interactive quiz that promotes student engagement as well as checks students' understanding.
I would recommend this IT article and others just as a food for thought, concerning the education for students. That if every school spent this amount of money into technology. Technology in teaching is going to keep advancing since it has been made room in budgets since covid-19, teaching will keep growing with technology. Also, this page has some interesting articles on A.I. which will be the newest technology all software's and companies are coming out with now/next.
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