This document provides tips and strategies for facilitating online discussions. It recommends connecting with students through check-in emails, student groups, and analytics. It also suggests cultivating online community by modeling consistency, encouraging positivity, and providing opportunities for interaction. When facilitating discussions, the document advises prompting students with open-ended questions, deciding response timing, and using rubrics for grading. It also offers a 20/80 approach to grading where 20% receive individual feedback and 80% receive a generic response.

1. Effective Strategies for a
Successful Semester Online
Online Course Community & Facilitating
Discussions
1. Connecting with Students
2. Tips for Cultivating Online Community in Your
Course
3. Key Tips for Facilitating Discussions
4. Ideas for Facilitating Threaded Discussions
5. Grading Discussions

2. Connecting with Students

3. Connecting with Students
Student Groups & Lists
1. Print course roster from Banner, or
2. Create a sharable Word Doc/Google Doc
3. Communication Log - Example
4. Canvas Groups
5. Microsoft Teams – Student Groups
Name?

4. Connecting with
Students
Check-In Emails
1. Students are people, not just students.
2. People Page (Canvas)
3. Canvas Course Analytics

5. Connecting with
Students
Strategies to Encourage Student Success
in Online Courses

6. Tips for Cultivating Community
in Your Course
Create a Course Community

7. Tips for Cultivating Online
Community
How do you create an online course
community?
1. Instructor Modeling/Consistency
2. Encouragement
3. Real World Scenarios/Personal Connection
4. Opportunities for Interaction

8. Tips for Cultivating Online
Community
Instructor Modeling and
Consistency
1. Weekly Emails
2. Timely Feedback
3. Video Messages/Virtual
Meetings/Lecture Capture Videos
4. Groundwork!

9. Tips for Cultivating Online
Community
Encouragement!
1. Encouragement
2. Positivity
3. What’s your mindset?

10. Tips for Cultivating Online
Community
Course Culture
1. Course Culture Defined
2. Tip Sheet
3. Creating and Developing an Online Course Community by Dr. Dana
Ingalsbe, Department Chair, Applied Engineering, B & I (Presented
during Summer 2020 workshop series) - Video

11. Tips for Facilitating Discussions
Let’s have a chat!

12. Facilitating Discussions
Tips!
1. Facilitate the discussion!
2. What is a quality post?
3. Discussion’s purpose or outcome?
4. Decide how often you will post within
a discussion!
5. Rubric (Canvas Rubrics)
6. Brevity
7. Timing

13. Facilitating Discussions - Examples
1. Example 1: “Tell us more about why you believe….”
2. Example 2: “And what from your reading this week might support this
view?”
3. Example 3: “Imagine you are (a position opposite of their own), what
would be your two or three arguments against your current position?”
4. Example 4: “How would one’s view of ________ (the topic you think
they need to consider) affect the thoughts expressed in your post?”

14. Starting Discussions - Examples
1. Example 1: “What if….”
2. Example 2: “What from your reading this week might support this view?”
3. Example 3: “Imagine you are (a position opposite of their own), what
would be your two or three arguments against your current position?”
4. Example 4: “How would one’s view of ________ (the topic you think
they need to consider) affect the thoughts expressed in your post?”

15. Facilitating Threaded Discussions
Threaded Discussions
1. Rhythm
2. Groups (Canvas Groups)
3. When to grade?
4. Example Reply Prompts

16. Facilitating Threaded Discussions –
Example Reply Prompts
1. Example 1: How would you define _______?
2. Example 2: “What reasons do you have for saying “_______”?
3. What do you think might be the implications of your statement “_____”?
4. What arguments would you expect others to bring against your viewpoint?
5. Tell us more about _______.
6. How have your views on this changed over the last five years? Why did they
change or not change?
7. Share something from your course reading that supports your viewpoint in
this post. Explain the connections.

17. Grading Discussions
20/80 Approach
20%
• Identify 20% of the students with the
lowest scores or ineffective responses
• Only enter comments for these
students.
80%
• Create a generic response message
for the remaining 80% of students
• Paste this response into their grading
comments
Rationale:
• You are investing your time/energy where you will be most effective.
• Sometimes, timely feedback is more key than the quantity of the feedback.

18. Grading Discussions
Generic Message Example for 80%
Please refer to the discussion grading rubric for criteria for threaded discussions.
I’d like to invite you to contact me [enter preferred contact method and info here]
if you have specific questions about how you can improve your threaded
discussion posts, or if you have questions about the topic we have been discussing.
Thank you!

19. Questions?

20. Online@JSU
Thank you for attending!
We invite you to attend this week’s future sessions!
• Thursday, January 7 – Providing Student Feedback & Helping Struggling
Students
• Friday, January 8 – Essential Qualities of an Awesome Online Teaching &
Finishing Strong
When: 2 to 3 pm, each day, in Microsoft Teams

21. Online@JSU