Revamping the Tired Discussion Board

Corinne Hyde, Ed.D.Brandon Martinez, Ed.D.Kimberly Ferrario, Ph.D.

Why use discussion boards (now)?

• Asynchronous learning• Build background knowledge prior to class

time• Have students grapple with concepts prior to

class time• Accountability for doing the readings• Evaluation- do students understand

concepts?

What do discussion boards usually look like?

• Text based• Threaded• One or two discussion questions - students

all answer the same questions• Students will respond if required to, but

rarely otherwise• When students do respond to each other

they tend to state their agreement

Typical Discussion Board

What would we like to be able to do with discussion boards?

• dynamic• multimedia• open ended• connected to the world• relevant outside the classroom

What we did:

• part of Open Course Redesign Model • continuous course redesign cycle• student and instructor feedback - discussion boards

are boring to read, tedious to grade• looked for ways to incorporate Web 2.0 tools

– increase engagement– connections with student interests– open ended– teaches more than one thing (content and technology)– wiki-esque model

What the discussion board assignment looks like now

• Involves students finding resources from around the web

• Involves students making connections between theory and these resources

• Can function within any discussion board system you’re already using

• zero cost

What people are saying:

• Students: – More interesting posts– desire to read others’ posts– finding new resources

• Faculty– Easier to grade– More interesting to read– Finding new resources to share with future classes– Students make connections with shared resources we didn’t

even know existed– Students now reference others’ posts in class more often.

Option to incorporate cutting edge technology - Voicethread

Voicethread benefits

• multimedia commenting• ease of use for students• ease of grading for faculty• visually appealing

Voicethread drawbacks

• no threaded conversations• cannot direct responses (tag) to certain

individuals• when given the option, students will default

to using text instead of multimedia commenting tools.

Recommendations for revamping your discussion boards

• Keep the rigor• Add choice• Add multimedia options• Encourage the use of Web 2.0 tools• Be willing to consider “odd” sources• Steal what your students share - it will make

your teaching more relevant!