Introduction 

There are many benefits to having online discussions even in a face-to-face (f2f) course. From fully f2f to blended to fully online, the students can expand their learning outside the classroom through interactive dialogue with their peers and the instructor. An online discussion is very similar to a f2f talk in that they require moderation and active management by the instructor, preparation time, and summarization of the concepts covered. In this learning guide an online discussion is defined as communication between instructors and students using interactive communication tools. These tools can take many forms, from chat sessions, to discussion forums, to video chat. The value of the online discussion is that even those students who are shy and timid can find the time to express their views, and more in-depth dialogue between students-students can occur.

What the Research Says 

Research supports two interesting results that could conflict with each other in practice; that instructor presence is key to student satisfaction,and that too much interaction and posting by the instructor in discussions can lead to reduced posting by the students (Wang and Liang, 2011).

Students claim higher satisfaction in courses that have higher instructor presence and availability (Picciano, 2002; Richardson & Swan, 2003;  Shea, Li, & Pickett, 2006;  Blau, 2009).   On the other hand, because the instructor    is considered an authoritarian figure (Rourke & Anderson, 2002), studies have found that the sooner, and more often, an instructor posted in the discussion forums, then the less frequent and shorter were the posts by the students (Dennen, 2005, Mazzolini & Maddison, 2003). Students require some time to start and to feel confident in expressing their views with each other before the instructor begins to interact with them, otherwise they will just reply to the instructor, and not to each other (Wang and Liang, 2011).

Directed Tactics

Wang and Liang (2011) outlined several methods specifically focused on dealing with this dilemma:

1. Regulating: The course designer can help regulate student interactions by creating and implementing clear rules and policies related to the discussion board posts and replies. This includes quantitative rules about how often to post, by when, and to whom. It also includes qualitative rules about the content and quality of the posts and replies.
2. Inviting: The instructor makes it clear to the student how to contact them for help, guidance, questions, and support on the discussion topics. This can be a separate online forum for building discussions between the instructor and students, which is away from the course topic discussions in which the instructor hopes the students will teach each other. This is often called the ’Virtual Office.’
3. Summarizing: The instructor is integral in summarizing the student discussions and going over main points and important conclusions. Putting in direct examples from the discussion is very useful and gives credit to high quality interactions. This helps the students in summarizing their own learning, as well as lets them know clearly that they were being monitored throughout the process.
4. Assessing: Formative assessments and feedback help students to improve their performance during the course. Offering feedback on the quality of the posts with examples of expectations helps students to meet the instructor’s expectations and to improve on the quality of their interactions with their peers.
5. Counseling: The instructor should let the students know they are there to support them, and be in frequent contact with the student through means other than just the discussion forums.  They can send out updates  by email and give students many ways to contact them, through a special instructor-student Virtual Office discussion forum (as outlined in #2) in the course, by email, phone, chat, in person-to-person office hours, and any other means of communication the instructor is able to offer students.

Avoiding Burnout 

In the f2f classroom, the instructor manages 20+ students in a discussion at the same time, in one hour, and then is done. In the online discussions the conversations can go on longer, expand and break up into multiple conversation lines, and the instructor may begin to feel overwhelmed by the number of replies they need to manage. Here are some tips and tricks to managing online discussions that avoid work overload:

• Save save save! If you write up a thoughtful, well supported and referenced reply on a given topic, chances are you will use it again the next time you teach that same topic and course. Save it in a file to be reused. Save anything you might reuse, and save yourself time in the future.
• Reply to multiple students at the same time. Do not reply to each student with the same information or weblink. Instead, try to get them onto the same thread and reply to them all there. If you wait a day or two and reply to a thread between 2-4 students, then you make one reply to four students at the same time.
  • Example 1: Hello John, Jane, Mary and Susan. You have some interesting points about XX, and also about XX. Have you considered XX? What do you think?
  • Example 2: Hello John. I see you are discussing the same topic as I replied to Mary with some interesting facts and sources. Check that out, and reply to let us know what you think.

Here we provide a list of strategies and methods that help improve the quality of online learning discussions.

Make the Discussion Post Directions Clear and Concise. For example, specify the minimum words or referencing required, and clearly state the due date. Create a high quality discussion question that requires they use critical thinking to integrate course concepts in place of just listing out answers they can copy online.

Make the Value Clear. Explain at the start of the course the reason and value of the discussions, and outline the discussion methods you will use. If students perceive the value they will make them a priority.

Make it Worth Something. If it is not graded,  students are not likely to give  it enough attention.  Discussion  can be an important and integral part of student learning and writing practice. Make both the initial posts and  their participation replies an adequate percent of the total grade. Experts in the field recommend that discussion participation should equal anywhere from 10-30% of the entire grade if students are to take them seriously.

Clearly State Participation Requirements. Many instructors will specify the minimum number of replies each student should make, how many days a week posts and replies should be made on (to show attendance), and the level of quality the reply content should have (meaning replies of just ’I agree’ and nothing more are not counted as participation). It is very useful to give students examples of what a high quality reply should look like. Giving students a grading rubric that outlines what is expected and how they will be graded allows them to meet the instructor’s expectations.

Promote Interactive Feedback: The instructor should outline that substantive feedback is required for participation points (such as replies of ’I Agree’ and nothing more will not constitute a part of graded participation). Note that not all replies will be substantive, and sometimes all we need to say is “Great job, I agree.” Don’t discourage this kind of positive support, just inform students that they must also have a minimum number of substantive replies as well. Giving students examples of what substantive feedback looks like can help them interact at the discussions in an advanced way. Substantive feedback usually includes one or more of the following elements:

•      Asking questions about the original post

•      Pointing out (respectfully) possible errors in the original post, and offering up a source of information on the topic for further discussion

•      Sharing of links, videos, and other online resources on the topic to expand further discussion

•      Sharing of personal experiences relevant to the topic

•      Respectfully disagreeing, and then sharing an alternative viewpoint

•      Using reliable support, facts, and information to support arguments and points

Create a Permanent Discussion Schedule. A professor can schedule regular and consistent start and end dates  of discussions to keep students on track. Setting early due dates on the posts allows students enough time to reply before the end of the discussions. Making the discussion schedule a permanent part of the syllabus allows students to plan their time effectively.

Lead by Example. If you expect students to make posts and replies at least three days of the week, so should the professor as the model. The instructor’s posts should be high quality, referenced, and academic, thus becoming a guide of what is expected.

•      Example: Always make the initial discussion post due on Tuesdays by midnight and the replies due on three days of the week, the final ones in by Sunday night. These permanent due dates week after week help to keep the students organized and able to meet the deadlines.

Alleviate Isolation and Distance. In blended or online learning, students may feel less socially connected to the instructor and course which can lead to higher dropout rates. See the section in this chapter on Building a Learning Community for tips on reducing this.

Encourage Dialogues. Avoid dominating the conversation or telling students ’how it is’ and instead guide learning in appropriate directions through the Advancing Discussion tactics covered in this chapter. Manage dominate students so that timid ones feel they have the space to share.

Appropriate Group Size. Research shows that groups of less than eight people will probably stagnate from lack of interaction, but so too will groups over 15 people as students feel overwhelmed by the number of posts in the forum. If the course numbers allow it, then create smaller discussion groups of 10-15 people. A good tactic is to then employ the ’Cross-pollination’ method discussed in this module.

Questioning Strategies: There are a variety of questioning strategies, such as Socratic questioning, that allow the instructor to help push student learning in online courses. The idea is that through asking the students specific questions about what they say, they will eventually lead themselves to the right answer. The following research paper covers these strategies in detail.

Lead the Horse to Water: You will quickly note that some students have missed the point, missed a needed conclusion, have a misconception, or just do not know their facts. This could be due to prior learning that is a barrier to them learning new information, due to them just reading an erroneous source online, or because they did not prepare for class. It is important to catch these discussion errors and moderate them early so that other students in the same course are not also erroneously led along the same logical fallacies. The problem, though, always rests in that people do not like to be told they are wrong. If you reply “that is wrong” the student is likely to feel publicly attacked in front of their peers and will either become defensive, or close up and not post anything more. Therefore, there are more subtle and indirect ways of leading the student to the right information without directly telling them.

Example: John writes “Climate change is just a hoax propagated by crazy environmentalists that want to prohibit the smooth running of our economy.”

Problems with the post: Hearsay. Unfounded. Jargon. Not academic. Claims without support. False information contrary to what experts in the field and the textbook say. The issue, though, is that climate change is a sensitive and heated subject. The professor would need to find an innovative indirect way of getting the student to learn the right material on their own because telling them is probably going to make them angry or defensive.

Ways the instructor might reply:

• Hello John. Thank you for your post. You made some claims but did not offer support or facts to back them up. Can you reply to me here with some specific facts and resources to support your points? What does our book say on the topic?
• Hello John. Thank you for your post. I would like to direct you to pg XX in our textbook. Read that page. What does the author say on this topic? What do you think?
• Hello John. Thank you for your post. I think that NASA has some very interesting data concerning climate change. Take a look at this link and tell me what you think? http://climate.nasa.gov/

Create Connections: Reply to student threads with useful resources, information, and relevant topics that help them connect their learning.

• You wrote about X, and at this weblink/online-resource they say X, what do you think?
• This reminds me of. . .
• Did you see that X wrote on this, what did you think of his/her conclusions?
• Go view this X thread, as it relates to what you say here on X. . .
• I see you talked about X, how does that relate to X on pg X of our book?
• See this X thread/link/news as it is relevant to what you say about X. . .

Advanced Discussion Methods to Expand Learning

Following are some advanced techniques for really pushing student learning to new and higher levels of understand- ing. They help take a boring, simple discussion and make it more interesting, fun, interactive, and meaningful for students.

1. Increasingly challenging questions: Some instructors like to scaffold the discussions in a way that also builds knowledge from the general to the specific or from lower to higher orders of learning.
   • How this works:
     • The instructor may start the students on a simple discussion question that only requires lower levels of thinking, such as knowledge (remembering) and comprehension (understanding) (Bloom’s Taxonomy).
     • This starts the discussion on a lower level of learning so that students begin to build their knowledge and thoughts on the topic.
     • The instructor posts and emails a summary of that discussion.
     • Then a second discussion question, due a few days later, may demand them to integrate and apply the knowledge from the first one in a more complex way.
     • The instructor posts and emails a summary of that discussion.
     • Then a third discussion question may advance this learning strategy further, or require them to summarize, integrate, and analyze what they have learned even further.
2. Role-play / Conference: Some instructors assign roles or characters to students and then give them scenarios to act out in the online discussion forums. Note that these are great alternative assessment methods and help to really learn how much the students know about a given topic. An important tactic to keep in mind is in conferences and role-play scenarios, it is best to survey the students prior to assigning roles and to purposely put the students into roles that are new or different than the student’s own personal views or values. Meaning, for example, make a democrat play the role of a republican, or young person play the role of an elderly resident. This way the participants are forced to learn about new views and opposite viewpoints than they already had, thus expanding their overall learning on the topic much more than if they only debated, defended, or played a role already in-line with their current worldviews.
   • Examples for Ideas:
     • Middle East Studies Course: The instructor assigns students to be different country leaders in the Middle East, the students study the politics of their assigned country, and then have an online ’United Nations Peace Conference’ in the discussion forums concerning conflicts over land and water rights.
     • Educational Psychology Course: The instructor assigns students to be different famous educa- tional psychologists from different eras and/or disciplines. Students study up on the views and research of their psychologist, and then in the forums ’acts out’ that person’s views on specific questions or debates.
     • Environmental Science Course: The instructor creates a role-play about use of pesticides in a small community. Students are given different roles, such as the concerned house mom, the business owner that sells the chemicals, or the corporation manager that exports the chemicals. They then interact through questions and concerns about the chemicals and learn about different stakeholder interests.
3. Discussions as a Data Source: Some instructors use the discussion forums as a research area for students. Students generate resources and information, the instructor can moderate it and comment on it, and then students can use that information to formulate essays, work, or assignments.
   • How this works:
     • The instructor creates a discussion forum on a given topic, and assigns students to list one fact and one web resource on the topic.
     • A few days later, the students might then participate in a second forum in which they summarize the information generated in the first one.
     • The students might then be required to complete a project, paper, or essay on the topic using at least three of the things they learned about during the data-driven discussions.
     • This scaffolds their learning and also ensures they use more reputable/approved sources of knowl- edge because the instructor had a chance to review them in advance.
4. Web 2.0: Many online Web 2.0 tools can be used to create fun and interactive online discussions. For example, Twitter is often used as a live synchronous ’Tweet Chat’ where a question is asked and the participants respond to the hashtag with comments and thoughts.
5. Leadership Development.: An excellent tactic is to make students a leader in the discussions, which also attends to encouraging students to be in charge of their own learning. This tactic motivates them to learn at least one topic fully, and by teaching others they show their grasp of the subject as well as learn leadership skills.
   • How this works
     • The instructor creates a schedule of important key course topics. This could, for example, take the form of one topic per week of the
     • The students then sign up during the first week to lead one weekly online
     • They are given clear, concise, and precise guidelines on how to prepare for their leadership week. These directions should include a grading rubric outlining how their work and participation will be assessed.
     • A week prior to their leadership week, the instructor connects with them either f2f or online to discuss their The student is in charge of designing the weekly discussion question, but the instructor should review it prior to the student posting it.
     • On the prescribed week, the student posts the initial discussion question and is then the leader for that topic, helping to guide and advance the discussion. They are expected to show that they are a leader/expert in that particular
     • The instructor would moderate and interact as well, but more in the backseat, leaving the student to complete their leadership
     • This is an alternative assessment measurement method that can be easily and conveniently assigned to any