Tips for Fostering an Online Community
Encourage active engaged discussions by:
- Establishing an open, inviting, non-threatening learning environment.
- Setting expectations in your syllabus about the use of electronic communication and your ability to respond to messages.
- Providing guidelines and expectations for students, such as if or when they are required to post, whether they are to read all posts, how many of the posts you intend to read, how posts will be graded, and issues of style and netiquette.
- Emphasizing the benefits of participating in online discussion.
- Providing students with the technological and communication skills to feel confident to interact online.
- Making participation in discussions a part of the student's evaluation for the course.
- Starting the discussion with a "good" question. (Crys & Smith (1990) define a good question to be one that: is prepared, yet appears spontaneous; is directed at a specific intellectual level; is phrased in clear, concise, and specific language; requires reflection before answering; and relates to learning objectives.)
- Having students be discussion monitors who read the daily postings and post summaries for each topic.
- Establishing a pro and con forum, where students are required to take a position on a topic and defend it. Require support documentation.
- Having students role playing in a topic area.
- Contacting the non-participating students individually and find out why they are not participating.
Discussion Articles and Resources
Keys to Facilitating Successful Online Discussions, http://www.uwsa.edu/ttt/raleigh.htm -- Donna Raleigh
Pedagogical Roles and Implementation Guidelines for Online Communication Tools, http://www.aln.org/publications/magazine/v3n2/funaro.asp -- Gina M. Funaro and Frances Montell
The Role of the Online Instructor/Facilitator, http://www.emoderators.com/moderators/teach_online.html - Zane L. Berge
Taking Discussion Online, http://www.dartmouth.edu/~webteach/articles/discussion.html -- Sarah Horton
Teaching Critical Thinking through Online Discussions, http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM0048.pdf -- Carol B. MacKnight