These are slides to support Mike Agostinelli and Jason Neiffer's presentation, "Building Better Discussions by Design" for NCCE in Portland, Oregon, March 2015!

1. BUILDING BETTER ONLINE AND
BLENDED CLASSROOM
DISCUSSIONS BY DESIGN
Jason Neiffer
Assistant Director/Curriculum Director @ MTDA
NCCE Tech-Savvy Teacher-in-Residence
Doctoral Candidate @ University of Montana
@techsavvyteach
Mike Agostinelli
Instructional Program Manager @ MTDA
NCCE Tech-Savvy Teacher-in-Residence
@mikegusto

2. These slides:
http://blog.ncce.org

3. Have you been a participate in a forum discussion before?

4. Overall, what is your perception of online discussions?
(1 = Ugh-o-rama … 5 = Unbelievableawesome)

5. Have you lead a forum discussion before before?

6. Best aspect of a forum discussion?

7. Worst aspect of a forum discussion?

8. The Problem

9. Overuse Overuse

10. Poorly-Designed Discussions

11. Discussion Fatigue

12. AS A STUDENT, what is your overall satisfaction of classroom
discussion?
(1 = worst thing ev-a! … 5 = best thing ev-a!)

13. AS A TEACHER, what has been your overall satisfaction with
discussion?
(1 = worst thing ev-a! … 5 = best thing ev-a!)

14. Drill down: Levels of Engagement
None
•Teacher
states
question
•Students
discuss
without
teacher
interaction
Basic Feedback
•Teacher
states
question
•Teacher
provides
direct, generic
feedback
("good job!" or
"great
question!")
Feedback with
Facilitation
•Teacher
states
question
•Techer
provides
direct
feedback with
redirecting
questions
Building Student
Connections
•Teacher
states
question
•Techer
provides
direct
feedback with
questions that
connect ideas
and students

15. …teachers should digitally touch EVERY student in an online discussion.

16. The Model: Community of Inquiry

17. Interactivity should be the cornerstone of online discussion forums!

18. Interactivity should be the cornerstone of online discussion forums!

19. Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000)

20. Designing Online Discussions

21. Instructional Design
• “This week we will be discussing…”Setting Curriculum
• “I am going to divide you into groups, and you
will debate…”Designing Methods
• “Please post a message by Friday…”
Establishing Time
Parameters
• “Try to address issues that others have raised
when you post”
Utilizing Medium
Effectively
• “Keep your messages short”
Establishing
netiquette
Anderson et al (2001)

22. Writing Good Discussion Questions
Convergent
Thinking
Why
How
In what ways...
Divergent
Thinking
Imagine
Suppose
Predict
If...., then....
How might....
Can you create...
Evaluative
Thinking
Defend
Judge
Justify....
What do you
think about...
Anderson et al (2001)

23. Setting the Stage
•“Bates says.... What do you think”Present Content Questions
•“I think that is a dead end. I would ask you to consider...”Focus the discussion
•“The original question was...Joe said...Mary said ...we
concluded that ...We still haven't addressed”Summarize the discussion
•“You are close, but you didn't account for... this is
important because...”
Confirm understanding
through explanatory feedback
•“Remember, Bates is speaking from an administrative
perspective, so be careful when you say...”Diagnose misconceptions
Anderson et al (2001)

24. Facilitating Discourse
• “Joe, Mary has presented a compelling counter
example to your theory. Would you care to respond?”
Identifying areas of
agreement/disagreement
• “I think Joe and Mary are essentially saying the same
thing.”
Seeking to reach
consensus/understanding
• “Thank you for your insightful comments”
Encouraging student
contributions
• “Don't feel self-conscious about "Thinking out loud" in
the forum...”
Setting the climate for
learning
• “I think we're getting off track here"Assess the learning path
Anderson et al (2001)

25. For Students: Discussion Starters
I agree with ______.
I would like to also
add that…
___________.
I agree with part of
your posting. I
support you on ____,
but I feel differently
about _____. Let me
explain why…
_________________

27. THANK YOU!
Jason Neiffer
Assistant Director/Curriculum Director @ MTDA
NCCE Tech-Savvy Teacher-in-Residence
Doctoral Candidate @ University of Montana
@techsavvyteach
Mike Agostinelli
Instructional Program Manager @ MTDA
NCCE Tech-Savvy Teacher-in-Residence
@mikegusto
http://blog.ncce.org

28. Resources
■ http://online.purdue.edu/sites/prd/files/Validating-a-Measurement-Tool-of-
Presence-in-Online-Communities-of-Inquiry.pdf
■ http://cde.athabascau.ca/coi_site/documents/Anderson_Rourke_Garrison_Arch
er_Teaching_Presence.pdf
■ Use of audio in feedback loop research:
http://jolt.merlot.org/vol7no1/olesova_0311.htm
■ https://academics.utep.edu/Portals/844/nofo/Using%20Discussions%20in%20O
nline%20Courses.pdf
■ http://www.rasmussen.edu/student-life/blogs/college-life/creating-the-perfect-
discussion-post-for-online-classes/
■ http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/making-the-online-
grade/2013/11/08/benefits-drawbacks-of-online-class-discussion-boards
■ http://tep.uoregon.edu/technology/blackboard/docs/discussionboard.pdf
■ https://coi.athabascau.ca/

29. Lab