Time Factors

Remember that all assignments involve time commitments from you and your students. Therefore, it's a good idea to carefully consider who will be doing what and how long it will take.

One very good method for clearly envisioning expectations throughout the course is to make a chart with a time line for the semester with columns on the chart discussion assignments and the time expectations for you and your students. Also, this method allows you to see how your discussion assignments are distributed throughout the course.

If you are grading discussion responses, keep in mind this may involve a great deal of reading.

Managing the Discussion

Discussion Setup

• Give students clear expectations about online discussion requirements, deadlines, and grading procedures.
• Online discussions are primarily text-based. Discussions may lack immediate responses and significant points may be lost because of lack of vocal emphasis or body language. Keep in mind that written text is always at risk of misinterpretation.
• Structure some assignments so that all students must be participate within a small timeframe. This helps the discussion to remain current.
• Build into your questions some guidelines to help formulate student responses (e.g., ask the learners to explain their reasoning or position and provide examples).
• Be sure to relate class work to online discussions and interactions. Make sure the discussion is essential to help learners achieve course goals.
• Give your discussion prompts a bit of controversy; add a twist to make it engaging.
• Give your students choices on what discussions or parts of discussions of which to work.

Knowledge of the Discussion Tool

• Make sure students have access to the tool before the assignment starts. This allows you to avoid problems after discussions have started.
• Allow for an easy, very basic introductory assignment to prepare the students for future discussions. This could be a simple introduction and/or posting.
• Have resources available for students who may like documentation/explanation of the tool.

Running a Discussion

• Use a grading rubric to provide clear guidelines of your expectations for their posts.
• Make yourself visible in the discussion:
• Encourage students to contact you if they don't understand the discussion assignment.
• Encourage discussion by rewarding the first couple of participants that begin the discussion, by commenting, ‘thanks [name of student], for getting us started off… that’s a good point – have you thought of….what do others think …..” This reinforces early participation, and models for students the behaviors required.
• Encourage other students to build upon each other’s posts through the forum, by asking others for their comments, and by including this requirement in the rubric.
• Refocus discussion when needed by acknowledging the student’s viewpoint and providing an alternative viewpoint, then ask for feedback from students.
• Interconnect divergent thoughts and mention how these ideas are connected and related to the discussion thread through the use of alternative perspectives.
• Encourage multiple viewpoints.
• Establish netiquette rules. Remove any offensive posts immediately (this happens rarely), and contact student directly to explain why you removed the post.

After the Discussion - Summaries and Grading

• Provide a summary of the discussion after it concludes. Consider posting a model answer to the discussion as a conclusion to the discussion.
• Tie the discussion to the course content to reinforce the relevance of the discussion.
• Allow time for reading and responding to discussion threads.
• Use a grading rubric to provide clear guidelines of your expectations for their posts.
• Provide the rubric to the students prior to the assignment.

Use of Student Teams

• Teams may be one method to reduce your grading time and provide student interaction.
• Establish teams and allow students to work together to post a final revised response. This results in fewer posts for you to read.
• Create clear guidelines for collaborating online and working in teams.

Learn More!

Visit the following to deepen your skill set:

• Thinkific Team, (2016). 4 Strategies to Boost Participation in Online Courses. Last accessed January 21, 2020.
• Online, self-paced course: Creating, Managing and Facilitating Online Discussions, Cardinal Stritch University. Last accessed January 21, 2020.
• Gannon, K. (2018, January 8). Creating the Space for Engaged Discussions. Faculty Focus. Last accessed January 21, 2020.
• Orlando, J. (2014, November 14). Online Discussion Questions That Work. Faculty Focus. Last accessed January 21, 2020.