Going Beyond Read - Write - Discuss
Online discussions are a fundamental part of most online classes. Ideally, they encourage the exchange of ideas, much as in-class discussions do. These resources/ideas are taken from Nathan Bierma's presentation Think Outside the Thread in Online Discussions at Instructurecon 2014. Bierma emphasizes the need to raise the stakes in discussions--make it clear they're not just repetitive "busy work." The list below provides ideas for turning discussions into a more engaging aspect of learning for your classes.
Assignments & Activity Ideas
- Expert reports: have each student become an expert on one aspect of the topic, then explain it to other students and answer questions.
- Post a comment on a public blog of an expert in the field.
- Tweet a key theme of a reading or lecture. (Or use Today's Meet as a private alternative to Twitter.)
- Divide students into small groups and rotate the role of facilitator throughout the semester.
- Complete a group annotated reading, with students making comments in the margins of an online text or in a collective document in Google Docs or a similar program; this can make reading more collaborative and meaningful.
- Express a key theme of a topic or class in the form of a bumper sticker. For instance, a history course might ask students how the American Revolution rebels might have expressed their viewpoint in a bumper sticker, and then how the royalists would have done so.
- Replace written discussions with video threads, where students create short videos for their posts and responses. Or you could post a video summary at the end of a written discussion thread.
- Photo find: Ask students to submit a photo that illustrates a concept or topic, then post them all to a discussion thread.
- Create concept maps to show what they've learned about a topic (or in an entire class).
- Complete web scavenger hunts to find resources, answers, or examples related to class.
- Use YouTube to find a scene from a TV show or movie that illustrates a class theme, and explain how it reflects that theme.
- Provide word clouds as a prompt for a reflection post. (The word cloud could be created from a reading or from students' papers or previous discussion posts.)
- Write a script for a newscast about a topic, historical event, or person.
Resources
Nathan Bierma posts ideas about teaching on Portable Pedagogy. He posted his lecture slides from his presentation.
Bonk, C. (2008.) Empowering online learning: 100+ activities for reading, reflecting, displaying, and doing. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Conrad, R.-M. & Donaldson, J. A. (2011.) Engaging the online learner: Activities and resources for creative instruction. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Conrad, R.-M. & Donaldson, J. A. (2012.) Continuing to engage the online learner: More activities and resources for creative instruction. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Nathan Bierma posts ideas about teaching on Portable Pedagogy. He posted his lecture slides from his presentation.
Bonk, C. (2008.) Empowering online learning: 100+ activities for reading, reflecting, displaying, and doing. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Conrad, R.-M. & Donaldson, J. A. (2011.) Engaging the online learner: Activities and resources for creative instruction. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Conrad, R.-M. & Donaldson, J. A. (2012.) Continuing to engage the online learner: More activities and resources for creative instruction. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.