I have used discussion boards quite a bit in my classroom. I have primarily used the "Forum" feature in Moodle. I also started using Penzu, which can have a discussion board functionality. My understanding of a DB in its simplest is as described in much of the reading, a way to move a classroom discussion to an online space where everyone can have a voice, regardless of personality.

I have attempted to use DBs to deepen learning in several ways.

1. As a warmup question before the meat of the lesson. It can be an open ended question sparked from the previous day's lesson. It can be an open ended question that leads into that day's lesson where the students can share their thoughts and opinions before the content influences them (followup can easily be at the end of the lesson to see if their thoughts have changed).

2. I have used them to completely replace a class discussion. Instead of asking students to discuss in class, I ask them to discuss online, commenting on several other posts. The key focus here is to not reply with, "I agree." or similar. The original comment and followups must extend and question.

3. I have used the DB to be meta-cognitive. I often ask students to think about why they think the way they do, how the subject in question affects/challenges their beliefs.

Though not asked, here are the problems I have come across with DBs.

1. Grading is just about an impossibility. My curriculum is massively full (not my choice). I usually am only able to grade their participation, not the quality of their participation.

2. Participation is hit and miss. Despite the the quality of the question, the quality of the subject matter and the grade attached to participate, a certain percentage of students will not participate.

3. "I don't have a pencil" excuse... instead of pencil, the excuse is their tablet is dead, they don't have their charger or they don't have their tablet today. I have attempted to overcome this by allowing them to work off their smart phone, but the quality of their writing drops to pathetic when I do that.