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Ways to Structure Interaction in the Discussion Area
There are many options listed below. Use only one or two in a single class or students will get really confused!
- Require student(s) to report an accurate & thoughtful summary of the discussion at intervals appropriate to the class timeline.
- Create questions that students must respond to/discuss in relation to the readings in the course.
- Create a private forum for each student to journal and for you to respond to. Students do activities offline, then reflect online. This creates focused sustained journaling and keeps a reflective record for both student and teacher.
- Use these 28 Roles (in Coop Learning) to assign to students as you design their tasks for the Discussion area.
- Encourage students to ask each other for help first in the Discussion area. That way whoever gets it first can answer it and students get a quick response.
- Use anonymous forums to get feedback about the course and how students are doing.
- To manage large classes, have students discuss in a private topic and then assign one person in their group to post a summary to public. Then have students then peer evaluate how they worked in each group.
- Sample Peer Evaluation from an exemplary course.
- How to make the Discussion self-regulated. Each week one group of 4 students leads the discussion. The students each have one of four roles:
- Asking questions - this person starts the discussion threads.
- Clarifying - helps keep the conversation going
- Prodding - calls, emails, reminds people that they need to be contributing in the Discussion
- Summarizing - summarizes the discussion throughout the week and at the end of the week.
- Use the KQLA strategy [pdf] or Knowledge Construction [pdf]. Create a thread for What We Know, another thread for Questions We Have, another thread for What We Learned, and one for How We Can Apply It. Have students post their responses and ideas under each thread.
- Use the Jigsaw strategy [pdf]. Give each team a private forum/topic, then have them report/teach the other students in the class using a whole class forum/topic or the student presentations tool [level 3].
- Use the Pairs-Check strategy [pdf] or the Reciprocal Teaching strategy. Assign each pair a private forum/topic.
- Use the Dyadic Essay Confrontation strategy [pdf]. Assign each pair of students a private forum/topic. Discuss the issue in a whole class topic when everyone is finished.
- Use the Group Investigation strategy [pdf]. Assign each group a private forum/topic. Have them present their report using a whole class forum/topic or the student presentations tool [level 3].
- Use the Cooperative Controvery strategy [pdf]. Assign each pair a private forum/topic. Assign each foursome (2 pairs) a private forum/topic.
- Use the Reiterative Problem-Based Learning strategy [pdf]. Assign each team a private forum/topic.