To ensure your students’ success in asynchronous online discussions, it is essential
to provide detailed instructions. Start by creating a Community Agreement outlining
how they should communicate with each other and the instructor. This may include treating
others respectfully, using constructive language, and citing reputable sources to
support their opinions. Once the guidelines have been established, for their first
discussion assignment, ask your students to reflect on and review questions such as:
What distinguishes an online discussion from an in-person one? What do they hope to
gain from their classmates’ responses? What would they prefer not to see or read?
Lastly, encourage them to think about past engaging discussions they’ve had on social
media or the internet.
The primary goal of this presentation is to align assignment structures with the broader
course objectives, using plain language and real-world objectives instead of formal
course learning outcomes. These best practices can be applied to a variety of courses,
ensuring that the grading system serves the course's purpose without unnecessary complexity,
ultimately aiming for clarity and simplicity in guiding students through the learning
process.
Strategies and Tips
- Provide prompts and ask thoughtful questions, but balancing being too intrusive and
offering constructive input is important.
- Direct the dialogue towards a productive and meaningful direction, ensuring it remains
respectful and considerate throughout.
- Develop and implement discussion rubrics. If possible, involve the students in the
process of creating these rubrics. By doing so, everyone can clearly understand the
expectations and criteria on which they are being evaluated, leading to more productive
and insightful discussions.
- To cultivate a positive and friendly atmosphere, reinforce the principles outlined
in the Community Agreement
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Research
- When students engage in asynchronous discussions that include clear guidance and structured
rubrics, they can better demonstrate their critical thinking skills at higher levels
(Giacumo and Wilhelmina, 2020).
- When engaging in asynchronous discussions, it’s important to cover some key elements.
These include starting with introductory activities to build social presence, exploring
ideas to develop cognitive presence, summarizing the discussions to reinforce cognitive
presence, and offering assistance to others to establish a teaching presence (Hasani, Santoso, and Junus, 2022).
- By incorporating a thoughtfully crafted teaching presence in asynchronous discussions,
utilizing real-life cases and scenarios as discussion topics, and integrating reflective
course activities, substantial levels of social and cognitive presence can be achieved
(Kilis and Yildirim, 2019).
- The addition of argumentation to online discussions can significantly improve the
overall learning experience. To facilitate this process, the authors of this particular
article have introduced the Scaffolded Online Dialogic Argumentation (SODA) framework.
This framework was created to design asynchronous online discussions allowing for
constructive and meaningful interaction (Kim and Oh, 2018).
- Engagement strategies promoting interaction between learners, instructors, and course
content have enhanced student satisfaction, motivation, and performance. These strategies
may involve icebreaker discussions, collaborative work via online tools, regular reminders
and announcements, grading rubrics, real-world projects, and structured discussions
with guiding questions. By implementing these strategies, students can reduce feelings
of isolation and become more engaged in their learning experience (Martin and Bolliger, 2018).
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Resource Guidelines for Online Discussions
LC4 - Facilitate Discourse
QM5.4: