Facilitating Meaningful Discussion (15 mins)
Completion requirements
Go through the activity to the end
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Examples of Well-Written Prompts
Anatomy of a Discussion Prompt
All discussion forum prompts should include:
- Due Date- When is the initial response due? When are comments on other student responses due?
- Description- What activity or text is the description related to? What do you want students to take away from the forum?
- Discussion Prompt - Ask the question(s) students are responding to.
- Rubric/ Grading Criteria- What is required or expected from exemplary work? Must sources be cited? How many? Must responses be a certain length?
Discussion Techniques for Students
Often, students are asked to comment on the responses of 1-2 of their peers within a forum. However, students who are new to online discussion may need examples of the types of responses they can write. Here are some recommended models of discussion techniques that you can ask students to apply when responding:
- Agree or disagree with another student and say why.
- Ask a question about another student's comment to elaborate further.
- Provide an example that relates to another student's comment from content covered, readings, or experience.
- Make a new related comment that is a new insight or perspective.
- Make a connection to comments the instructor or other students have made related to readings
Exemplars
Watch 2:41- 8:34 of the video below from Rutgers reviewing 4 well-designed discussion prompts.
Video: Creating Clear Discussion Board Instructions
You can watch the entire video if you want to, but only the Creating Clear Discussion Board Instructions ( 2:41 - 8:34) section of the video is required for this lesson.
