Using discussion boards to encourage writing, critical thinking and building a learning community

1. Reading, Writing and Collaborating
Through Discussion Boards
Ida M. Jones
Professor of Business Law
Director, Center for the Scholarly Advancement of
Learning and Teaching
California State University, Fresno

2. Outcomes Today
• Overview of discussion boards in the context
of teaching, learning & creating a learning
community
• Examine two uses of discussion boards
• Review structures to create effective
discussion board assignments

3. Have you taught a fully online course?
Vote Yes or No

4. Have you used online discussion
boards?
Vote Yes or No

5. How would you describe your success
at using discussion boards?
Vote
A. I had great success!
B. It worked but I don’t think any
learning actually occurred
C. Discussion Board? I don’t even
know what it is!

6. Effective Teaching
• Lectures
– Manage learning
– Control
• amount of info
• How learners get the info
– Present to large numbers of learners
• Socratic method: questions and answers
under fire; probing to encourage learning

7. Lecture-physical presence
Orally delivered content
Students listening, discussing in
person
Students watching, taking notes, following
instructor modeling the analysis

8. Learning Theory
info info
Objectivism vs. Constructivism
Surface learning vs. Deep learning

9. Questions so far before we get to two
ways I’ve used discussion boards?

10. One use of Discussion Boards:
Collaborative Quizzes
• Collaborate to develop answers
– Basic questions
– Some case discussions
• Randomly assigned groups of 5-7
• Each week,
– Discuss answers to quiz questions
– Prepare a group answer to each question.
• The individual quiz -3 randomly selected questions
• Grades based on results of
– Writing original answers
– Commenting/adding to other answers
– Developing group answers
– Taking quiz; submitting group answer as response

11. Overall, the group quizzes were an effective way to learn the
material.
Strongly
Disagree
4%
Strongly
Agree
Agree
22% Agree Disagree
Neither Agree nor Disagree
48% Strongly Agree
Strongly Disagree
Neither Agree
nor Disagree Disagree
22% 4%

12. Overall, the members of my group were helpful in
identifying areas of agreement and disagreement on
course topics that helped me to learn.
Agree. 33%
Strongly Agree
Disagree
Agree. 46% Neither Agree nor Disagree
Strongly Agree
Disagree. 8%
Neither Agree
nor Disagree.
13%

13. Another Use of Discussion Boards:
Writing, Research and Critical Thinking
Alternative to the Research Paper
Website: Alternative to the Research Paper
https://sites.google.com/site/bbworld2012alternativetothe/home

14. Tie assignment to expected outcome
• Testing knowledge and understanding of concepts
• Discussing and solving a problem, case or factual
scenario
• Encouraging discussion, reflection and analysis of
concepts and developing new insights into those
concepts
• Applying concepts learned in the text to other readings
to reinforce understanding of the concepts
• Developing a research project
• Completing a lab exercise

15. What a Tech Start-Up’s Data Say About
What Works in Classroom Forums
• Article in Chronicle of Higher Ed
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/what-a-tech-start-ups-data-say-about-what-works-
in-classroom-forums/38960?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
– Formal, structured grading-less value than the
informal structure
– Anonymous comments/questions worked better
at more selective institutions, e.g. MIT
– Requiring that students introduce themselves
resulted in more robust discussions

16. Have you learned anything you
would use now?

17. Additional Questions or Comments?