What role or purpose do discussion forums serve in the online classroom and are they effective?
Discussion forums allow students the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of the material being taught. Students can voice their personal opinions on a topic without the fear of speaking in front of a crowd. Also, discussion forums allow students to engage with the other students in the course and develop friendships.
How do discussion forums function as a teaching tool?
Discussion forums function as a teaching tool because reinforces a recent assignment. For example, after assigning the three day food journal I can assign the students to discuss their experience in a discussion forum forcing the students to reflect on the assignment and the impact it has made on their daily diet since completing the assignment. Students will most likely learn that they are not the only one now reconsidering eating an entire bag of Doritos while watching American Dad on Sunday nights because the assignment shed some light on their unhealthy eating habits. Or, the students can discuss the importance of eating breakfast and encourage one another to eat breakfast and suggest simple options such as half a bagel with cream cheese and a banana packed the night before.
How could they be used effectively and ineffectively? Furthermore, what are some best practices for facilitating forums online?
The discussion forum will only be effective if the teacher is involved in the discussion providing feedback to encourage the discussion to keep going. Also, the teacher needs to be present to monitor what students are posting. Unfortunately three students got in trouble last semester for posting inappropriate comments on the introduction discussion forum. The students did not realize their teacher sees everything they post. To prevent this incident happening in the future a teacher will need to post strict guidelines for posting to discussion boards. Maybe make a discussion etiquette quiz and the students must earn a 100 on the quiz before a discussion forum is open to them. The discussion forum is an effective teaching tool for critical thinking skills. Providing a rubric for the discussion forum will result in deep discussion versus "I agree with what he/she said" comments.
A discussion forum will be ineffective if it is only used for students to regurgitate the material they learned.
A very useful video on keeping students engaged in discussion forums in the virtual classroom.
Discussion forums allow students the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of the material being taught. Students can voice their personal opinions on a topic without the fear of speaking in front of a crowd. Also, discussion forums allow students to engage with the other students in the course and develop friendships.
How do discussion forums function as a teaching tool?
Discussion forums function as a teaching tool because reinforces a recent assignment. For example, after assigning the three day food journal I can assign the students to discuss their experience in a discussion forum forcing the students to reflect on the assignment and the impact it has made on their daily diet since completing the assignment. Students will most likely learn that they are not the only one now reconsidering eating an entire bag of Doritos while watching American Dad on Sunday nights because the assignment shed some light on their unhealthy eating habits. Or, the students can discuss the importance of eating breakfast and encourage one another to eat breakfast and suggest simple options such as half a bagel with cream cheese and a banana packed the night before.
How could they be used effectively and ineffectively? Furthermore, what are some best practices for facilitating forums online?
The discussion forum will only be effective if the teacher is involved in the discussion providing feedback to encourage the discussion to keep going. Also, the teacher needs to be present to monitor what students are posting. Unfortunately three students got in trouble last semester for posting inappropriate comments on the introduction discussion forum. The students did not realize their teacher sees everything they post. To prevent this incident happening in the future a teacher will need to post strict guidelines for posting to discussion boards. Maybe make a discussion etiquette quiz and the students must earn a 100 on the quiz before a discussion forum is open to them. The discussion forum is an effective teaching tool for critical thinking skills. Providing a rubric for the discussion forum will result in deep discussion versus "I agree with what he/she said" comments.
A discussion forum will be ineffective if it is only used for students to regurgitate the material they learned.
A very useful video on keeping students engaged in discussion forums in the virtual classroom.