For Professors Going Online - The Art and Science of Discussion Forums

By Dr. Karen Srba, Dean of Francis Worldwide

March 2020

Discussion forums are an art and science. Too much professor engagement can shut down student to student discussions; too little professor engagement can leave students wondering “where is the professor.” The right amount of engagement can lead to greater learning and provide younger students with a lesson in critical thinking and organization and articulation of their thoughts in a professional setting.

Here are some tips on how to write a good discussion question for your students and how to promote and provoke student to student discussion in an online forum with just the right amount of professor engagement:

1. Make sure the discussion question relates to the topic in the lesson or readings for that week. Asking questions that are not related to the topic for that week or any week, can be frustrating for students and does not add to their learning. They will feel as if this is another check box of mindless items they have to do in an online course. The discussion questions should be the point at which the faculty member directs the discussion about the material learned or about to be learned, and solicits understanding and application by the student. It is also a great spot for faculty to bring in their real-life experiences and case studies to expand the learning on the topic.

2. Do not ask a question where everyone should have the same answer. Questions should be open-ended and allow for students to answer in their own way, applying their knowledge and/or experience to the topic. This is how student to student learning takes place. The ultimate outcome is that you want students to go, “wow, I never thought about it that way” or “hmm, that sounds like a good approach to this problem, I might try that in my own organization or ________.” 

NOTE: Some might say, that there are some courses where discussion forums are not appropriate or where everyone has to have the same answer, like Math. Well that isn’t necessarily true. Brining meaning to math is very important especially to 18-22 year-olds who may say they will never use math again. In these cases, bringing to light how math is used in society and everyday life is important. So focus these course discussions on use cases that can have multiple outcomes or on how this particular equation could be used in a profession or daily life. Get students to figure out where they can use the math. Have them write a use case where a particular equation could be used and then ask all other students to solve the equation? This is a great way to get top engagement with students.

3. Do not feel compelled to answer each student’s post. Answering or commenting on each student’s post sets the stage for all other discussion and can turn-off student to student engagement. Wait until students have commented first on each other’s discussion post and then use the responses to the posts to either curtail misconceptions or promote deeper questioning. Using words like, so if XXXX is correct in his/her hypothesis, what about ______________. This is a great way to promote and provoke students and get them thinking about diverse and opposite ways to think about the question or problem. Sometimes you have to let them go down the rabbit hole and bring them back after ample debate and discussion has taken place.

4. Do provide encouragement to students to ask others questions during the discussion forum. This needs to be monitored and provoked by the professor. Do not let students use questions as a filler just because they want to add something to the discussion. Ensure that the question a student asks is offering a deeper understanding or clarification. I would then ask the student with the question, to apply what they learned in a reply to the post. This is another way to keep the discussion going and engaging. Then ask other students what they think about the application the student responded with. This is not to put student A on the spot, but to promote others to help each other in understanding the problem and the answer.

5. This is the most important part of discussions. Do not tell students how many words a first post should be and how many words they should post. Use a rubric to grade quality not quantity. If you tell students how many words needed for a first post and how many posts they need to respond to, that is all you will get and true discussion will most likely never take place. Using a rubric might be harder to grade, but you will get a better quality discussion and students will feel more engaged and involved in their online courses.

6. Also be sure to organize your discussion threads. Make sure that you open the first thread for each topic or weekly discussion and let students respond to your thread individually. Then each student can respond to each other under the student’s thread. This will keep organization and ensure that responses are linear in nature. This makes the discussion thread easier to navigate and learn from the discussion.

Level 1   Professor Question / Topic – First Thread 

Level 2   Student A – Response Thread    Student B – Response thread

Level 3    Student B – Responds to Student A    Student C Responds to Student A (Level 3)

For more information contact Dr. Karen Srba at ksrba@francis.edu or follow us on LinkedIn page or like us on our Facebook page Francis Worldwide