Discussion: Merits of Online Discussion Boards
In the long history of teaching modalities, online teaching is a newcomer. Very quickly upon the advent of the Internet, companies began to set up learning management systems (LMSs) to facilitate learning online. You are very familiar with these, as you are currently reading this course material through an LMS. A key component of all of these is the discussion board or forum, where discussion prompts encourage students to demonstrate learning with responses to those prompts; share in the learning experience by responding to each other’s work, collaborating, or sharing ideas; and build a sense of community. Each of you may approach the discussion board differently, and have ideas about its value. This week, you will discuss these ideas, after reading scientific literature from research on the topic, which unfortunately is quite limited in number (research opportunity!). How do you think online discussions contribute to your overall learning of the material? What exactly do they contribute above and beyond the readings and assignment work? Could online classes function without them? What would be lost? What would be gained? You are expert practitioners in discussion board work, so your ideas, informed by science, will help answer these questions. Now is your chance, as an instructor to improve the discussion board as a teaching and learning tool.
To prepare:
Complete all Learning Resources and review your lesson plan from Week 4.
Think about your experiences as a student completing discussion board work.
By Day 5
Explain your argument for the value of having discussion board work in online courses. Draw from your personal experience but support your answer with evidence from the literature.
Then, discuss best practices for both (1) creating discussion board prompts, and (2) setting rules about posting and responding (post length, submission times, number of posts, etc.).
Then, post what you consider to be an effective discussion board assignment (think creatively), and explain why you consider this to be a best practice.
Here are the learning resources:
Required Readings
AlJeraisy, M. N., Mohammad, H., Fayyoumi, A., & Alrashideh, W. (2015). Web 2.0 in education: The impact of discussion board on student performance and satisfaction. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 14(2), 247–258.
Broadbent, J., & Poon, W. L. (2015). Self-regulated learning strategies & academic achievement in online higher education learning environments: A systematic review. The Internet and Higher Education, 27, 1–13. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2015.04.007
Cohen, A., & Baruth, O. (2017). Personality, learning, and satisfaction in fully online academic courses. Computers in Human Behavior, 72, 1–12. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2017.02.030
Diliberto-Macaluso, K., & Hughes, A. (2016). The use of mobile apps to enhance student learning in introduction to psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 43(1), 48–52. doi:10.1177/0098628315620880
Kirschner, P. A. (2017). Stop propagating the learning styles myth. Computers and Education, 106, 166–171. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2016.12.006
Kuo, Y.-C., Walker, A. E., Schroder, K. E. E., & Belland, B. R. (2014). Interaction, Internet self-efficacy, and self-regulated learning as predictors of student satisfaction in online education courses. The Internet and Higher Education, 20(1), 35–50. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2013.10.001
Lammers, W. J., Gillaspy, J. A., Jr., & Hancock, F. (2017). Predicting academic success with early, middle, and late semester assessment of student-instructor rapport. Teaching of Psychology, 44(2), 145–149. doi:10.1177/0098628317692618
McDonnell, G. P., & Dodd, M. D. (2017). Should students have the power to change course structure? Teaching of Psychology, 44(2), 91–99. doi:10.1177/0098628317692604
Mohr, K. A. J., & Mohr, E. S. (2017). Understanding generation Z students to promote a contemporary learning environment. Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence, 1(1), 9. doi:10.15142/T3M05T
Willingham, D. T., Hughes, E. M., & Dobolyi, D. G. (2015). The scientific status of learning styles theories. Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 266–271. doi:10.1177/0098628315589505
Wu, J., & Kraemer, P. (2017). Student success in introductory psychology: The value of teachers knowing more about their students. Teaching of Psychology, 44(4), 342–348. doi:10.1177/0098628317727910
I will send you week 4 lesson plan
