There were several useful observations on this from last week's activity. From the discussions we had the following:

• Have a clearly defined relevant topic that promotes discussion; posting a topic that is thought provoking, interesting and relevant to what the students are studying
• Have an organized structure such as Michael designed for this discussion.A separate forum in the discussion area assist students in location the relevant postings.
• Read the other postings in order to ‘scaffold’ effectively and learn from others. Use the other postings as blocks to build with.
• Depending on the topic it could be helpful for participants to have time to research the subject before posting to the board. This could lead to a more informed discussion.
• Online discussions are successful if they provide fresh options to investigate, new direction, goals, insights and challenges.
• a conversation to and fro - as would be had in a classroom situation, rather than one solitary comment
• the facilitator could send emails to those not participating (eg: have you read Jo's thoughts on topic X - they are very enlightening) The facilitator's role would be to guide participants to ensure the discussion stays on track, without becoming too involved; the trick with this is to be friendly and encourage but reinforce the notion that it is obligatory to be involved!
• Active participants can encourage others to add their thoughts by challenging viewpoints and asking for responses from individuals who they believe may have useful information relating to the discussion
• put a time limit on the discussion - say 3 or 4 days so that everyone gets involved quickly to discourage procrastination
• facilitator should encourage participants to freely put forward their ideas on the issue/topic as it provides an excellent forum for feedback by encouraging both more thought and depth of reply than may otherwise occur in a classroom.

From the chat between Michael, Keven, and Vicki:

• getting the feeling of other individuals at the end of keyboard as being important
• getting an image of the personality of other participants
• some socialisation is needed first
• need to access the discussions at least twice a day
• a kind of teamwork involved
• group responsibility
• a level of expectation and commitment
• people need to have an experience with this tool (discusions) where they feel they have really gained something
• confidence in literacy skills

Other Resources

The following web references may be useful:

• Online Group Discussions - why? http://fic.engr.utexas.edu/how/files/FICdocs/Online%20Group%20Discussions.pdf
• Structuring Group Discussions http://ltde.tripod.com/webct/bulletinboardstructure.htm
• Taking Discussion Online http://www.dartmouth.edu/~webteach/articles/discussion.html

For an interesting approach (called the R9 process) see example 2 at the end of the page at http://users.chariot.net.au/~michaelc/forum_use.htm

For a superb example of how one can coach students in online courses to develop this appreciation of the knowledge of classmates as a source for analysis and ‘deeper learning’ I recommend you investigate the late Guy Bensusan’s Escalator approach at http://users.chariot.net.au/~michaelc/nw2001/esc.htm

My own paper at http://users.chariot.net.au/~michaelc/nz/ICCE_paper.htm discusses the use of forums in general. (This paper also discusses other several other issues related to this course.)

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