Strategies for Engaging Learners through Discussion and Small Group Work
It's an appealing image: the professor is wearing slippers, her favorite snacks are nearby, and she is teaching class from the comfort of her home. Teaching a course online certainly has its benefits--but good teaching in an online format also carries its own set of challenges. In addition to the significant investment of time required to build a quality course, instructors are often active in their courses three to four times a week for several hours each session. Moderating threaded discussions, answering students' questions, evaluating assignments, updating links, and clarifying misconceptions are among the routine responsibilities of the professor who teaches online. Far from being easier than traditional on-campus teaching, online teaching requires additional measures to compensate for the lack of face-to-face communication. Instructors must create an "online presence" for their students--the psychological perception that they are available and responsive--to keep learners actively engaged in the course (Smith, Ferguson & Caris, 2001).
Despite the challenges, many professors enjoy teaching online--primarily because the emphasis on written response encourages a deeper level of thinking. Because students have time to reflect, their contributions to discussions are generally more thoughtful and well-considered. With few exceptions, everyone participates in the conversations. The quiet student who sits in the back of the traditional classroom has an opportunity to fully participate in an online course. Furthermore, threaded discussions allow students to engage in relevant sidebar conversations that a traditional classroom does not usually afford.
Students must be engaged with the course material and with their peers in order to have an optimal learning experience. Moore (1993) identified three types of interaction that can found within a successful online environment: learner-content interaction, learner-instructor interaction, and learner-learner interaction. How do you create the right conditions for fruitful interactions within an online course? You can promote interaction through well-designed discussion activities. The following are tips for creating a fertile discussion board:
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Learner-Content Interaction
- Alternate between "preview" and "review" questions connected to weekly reading assignments.
- Ask students to generate questions for discussion (or review) of the reading.
- Assign students to initiate and moderate chapter discussions. (Each takes a turn as leader.)
Learner-Instructor Interaction
- Post a "Weekly News" forum to provide updated information to students. (Using the Discussion Board instead of Announcements allows students to respond to your posts.)
- Create a Q and A forum to address questions about projects and assignments. Ask students to identify which parts of the assignment are most difficult for them.
- Include excerpts from insightful student contributions in a "final thoughts" posting, where you pull together the key themes of the discussion.
Learner - Learner Interaction
- Create a "student only" space where participants can seek or provide assistance anonymously.
- Create small group discussion areas. Participation often increases when the group is smaller because the environment feels "safer," and more relaxed.
- Desgin discussions around specific tasks--i.e., case study reviews, product/resource critiques, peer review of work in progress.
- Include collaborative assignments (with structures in place--such as a group contract--to ensure that the experience is productive for all students.
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Key Crafting Words for Online Discussion:
- Comprehension
- Application
- Analysis
- Synthesis
- Evaluation
Team Project Plan --This is a template for organizing/monitoring contributions in small group projects.
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References
Smith, Ferguson & Caris (2001). Teaching college course online vs. face-to-face. THE journal. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2001/04/01/Teaching-College-Courses-Online-vs-FacetoFace.aspx
Additional Resources for Online Instructors
Strategies for managing the online workload (podcasts produced by Penn State – Host: Lawrence C. Ragan)
Ten Principles of Effective Online Teaching -- a special report produced by Faculty Focus (author: Lawrence Ragan)
Center for Research on Teaching and Learning at University of Michigan—Online Teaching Strategies
Illinois Online Network: Principles of Instructional Design
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