Developing Course Material: Discussions

Discussions serve an important role in your online course. They facilitate collaboration and team work in the online environment in a way that blogs can not. Understanding the subtle difference between the two will help you make informed decisions on how to use each of them.

To begin, we need to distinguish the difference between a blog and a discussion. A blog is an online personal journal, which individuals share reflections, thoughts, links, etc., which others can read or comment. Blogs are the predecessor to social media.

Discussions allow an instructor to post questions, videos, opinions, etc. and let students post materials in reply. Discussions offer more dynamic interactions between two or more parties because of not only having a threaded forum but also because the direction and focus of the discussion is not entirely in the author's hands. It's a tool allowing for more dynamic two-way communication. There are many directions you can take with a discussion.

• You can pose questions about specific content. 
• You can debate positions and issues. 
• You can discuss feelings and thoughts related to course content. 
• You can open up a discussion for student questions or comments or you can allow for student led discussion topics. 

Keep in mind that although discussions are a more dynamic communication tool, you can still include blogging as a part of your course. Blogging serves a great function for allowing student owned self- reflective writing.

Assessing assignments like discussions can be tricky because discussion posts can vary and student interpretations differ. You, as the instructor, have to rethink your role in how you measure success. In discussions, keep the following points in mind.

• First, there are no finite number of correct responses. A student may very well illustrate his or her point with few postings and comments. 
• Second, the thinking process becomes as important as the actual product. In a discussion the logic and reasoning behind posts can tell you just as much about a student's grasp on the subject as their final post or comment. 
• Lastly, other items such as peer-reviewed research and literature becomes much more important. In this environment you have to verify that students are using legitimate materials to back up their work. 

When assessing a discussion, you have to look at the big picture, the student's overall thinking and participation. The following are some suggestions for assessing discussions:

• Look at the student's critical thinking
• Look at overall participation of the student
• Look at the analyzing writing and proofreading skills
• Ensure that the student has used proper etiquette in their postings. 

Keep in mind that just like any other assessment you should ensure that the discussion can measure the learning that you want to take place and that students have a clear understanding of expectations. Discussions can be unpredictable so ensuring quality and direction becomes key.