Discussion+&+Collaboration

Discussion
The most important part of an online course is the discussion board. This is where students and instructors join together to share ideas, debate issues, and create a social presence. As such, moderating the discussions, creating an atmosphere where people feel comfortable and safe, is paramount to achieving a positive experience for the students. It is critical that the instructor monitor posts and insert thoughtful insights to move the discussion along.

There is no room for a bully pulpit in online discussions. As a student I have experienced times when students would post thinly veiled sarcasm about previous posts. This is something I will not tolerate in my online courses. If a student posts a comment I find to be disrespectful I will contact the student privately to discuss his/her actions. I will presume positive intentions and ask the poster if he/she meant to insult his/her fellow students or not. If not, I will ask that the post be removed and re-written. If I feel he/she did mean to insult, I will consider deducting participation points. This has become one of my pet peeves in my classes, I hope to keep it from creeping in to any classes I teach.

Here is a sample rubric for discussion participation. This is a comprehensive document that contains great best practices information. I will use it as a reference when I begin teaching online and have a real course to create and manage.

Collaboration
Second to discussion board participation in importance is collaboration. Online courses, at first blush, do not appear to be the foil for student collaboration - but nothing is farther from the truth. Having participated in several collaborative projects while a KSU student, I have come to believe that almost all courses should have some collaborative assignment. I believe this because I see this online collaboration happening in the work environment. No longer must employees be sitting in the same location to complete a task. At my own place of business I participate in several projects where one person is in Utah, another in Vermont and yet another in Texas. We all communicate using online tools such as GoToMeeting, Elluminate, and email. Ideas are shared, tasks are assigned and work is completed. This is real world and we do not have to be face-to-face to be successful.

When I teach online I will include a collaborative assignment with the following:
 * Team agreement - everyone discusses and puts in writing the expectations for each person's participation. This agreement allows the students to discuss in advance their own opinions and ideas of what is fair, what is quality, what is editing. I believe this will also help me as an instructor if the need arises for me to become involved in an unsuccessful group. This team agreement from a previous course with Dr. Kovalik will be used as a guideline for my courses:
 * Deadline for joining a group - it is difficult to have someone join a group that has already begun to work. I will consider a sliding point scale for joining a group as an incentive to get this task taken care of quickly. Perhaps 5 points for joining a group within the first week of class, then 3 for the second week, etc. I think this might spur the formation of groups early on.
 * Clearly defined project that includes:'
 * Rubric for final product
 * Examples of previous work
 * Discussion board topic for the project for questions, hints, etc.
 * Suggestions for tools - wikis, google sites, weebly, etc. where appropriate
 * Peer review - projects will be posted for peer review by other groups - in an online environment this fosters sharing among students