Communicate 4.2.3 – Discussions Quest

Communicate 4.2.3 – Discussions Quest

• What role or purpose do discussion forums serve in the online classroom and are they effective?

Discussion forums or boards are an extensive part of the online classroom. Forums give students a chance to post their thoughts, reflections, reactions and comments on topics, questions, etc... Teachers are able to see from the posts which students have insight or those that are struggling.

• How do discussion forums function as a teaching tool?

Discussion forums function as a teaching tool as a place for teachers to formatively assess students understanding of ideas, concepts, and topics. It also can allow for higher levels of questioning with open-ended questions based on Bloom's higher levels of learning including analysis, synthesis, evaluation and creativity.

• How could they be used effectively and ineffectively? Furthermore, what are some best practices for facilitating forums online?

Discussion boards can be used both effectively or unfortunately ineffectively but both students and teachers. Feedback and responding to other posts can make the forum more effective and authentic. However, if a students responds or posts in a forum and no one looks at their post then it is highly ineffective to the assignment. Instructors need to respond in a timely manner to all posts made in the forum and require the students to respond to other posts made by classmates. Some best practices for facilitating forums online is to respond in timely manner to students' posts, give feedback on their posts, have students respond to each others posts, make the posts relevant and authentic to the course, topics, concepts, etc..., utilize higher levels of DOK or blooms, open-ended questions.