Asynchronous – occurring at different
times
Discussion – an exchange of ideas, facts, and opinions
Should you use asynchronous discussions in
your course? What will they accomplish? How can
they be effective? The answer to these questions
is important for every online facilitator to
investigate. Although you may believe online
teaching and learning is in its infancy, there
is enough research reported in the literature
to establish asynchronous discussions as one
of the most significant factors in effective
online courses. Discussions (often labeled participation
in traditional classes) can, and probably should
be, used in most online classes. The big difference
between discussions in a traditional class and
an online class is when they take place. In a
face to face (F2F) class, discussions are synchronous
(all participating within the same time frame).
Joan says, "This is what I think...." then
John replies, "I agree with your first two
points but disagree with your third". Online,
discussions are asynchronous (taking place at
different times). Joan posts a message and at
a later time, John replies to her message. These
discussions take place in forums the instructor
creates, making assignments in regards to what
should be discussed. The instructor monitors
the discussions and can reply when necessary.
These discussions often become the “heart” of
online courses. The discussion forums for many
online courses, and often become the virtual
classroom. Their very nature allows for reflection
and critical thinking, resulting in more involvement,
by more students, than the typical face to face
(F2F) classroom discussion. In fact, those introverted
students (as defined in personality styles),
who rarely “speak up” in a F2F class,
often lead exciting and thought provoking discussions
online.
- Why Use Discussions
- Approaches to Discussion Questions
- Characteristics of Effective Discussions
- Useful Forums
- Organization
- Facilitating Discussions
- Keeping Your Balance
- Evaluation
- Resources
Why use discussions?
Attrition fluctuates nationally
between 34% and 50%, on average, for online classes.
Most of us would agree that even the lowest end
of this statistic is still too high a percentage
of students to lose. The three top reasons students
fail to complete an online course are:
- Lack of student responsibility – time
management, infrequent logons, and nonparticipation.
- Technical difficulties – real or perceived
problems, computer illiteracy, and user error.
- Isolation – a feeling or belief that
they are working alone without the help of their
teacher or classmates.
While there may be little an instructor
can do to help students with the first two reasons,
there is a great deal he/she can do to decrease
isolation by effectively using class discussions.
Discussions are also an effective
way to help adults learn. Since online classes
are usually populated by adults, using discussions
in your course will affect the learning outcomes
you have established by addressing adults preferred
learning strategies. According to the Knowles educational
theory of androgogy (how adults learn), learning
environments provide an opportunity for immediate
application of new information to one’s personal/professional
lives and those where they can demonstrate their
knowledge. That’s exactly what well constructed
and properly facilitated discussions do.
Demographic statistics report that
online course enrollees include a high percentage
of women, sometimes up to 75% of the participants.
Research on how women understand and apply knowledge
clearly reports that approximately 80% of the female
population needs social interaction to maximize
their learning potential. Once again, asynchronous
discussion meets these learners’ need
As mentioned in the introduction,
online discussions usually result in greater participation
by more students than the typical F2F discussion.
The primary reason for this can be found in examining
personality styles. In a traditional classroom,
the extroverted students tend to dominate the discussion,
while those more introverted sit back and observe.
By definition, extroverted people are those who
give little consideration to thinking through their
statements before verbalizing their comments (they
process information though external communication).
Introverts need time to think, research, analyze
and reflect before responding. It’s fairly
obvious that F2F discussions, because of the immediacy,
tend to leave introverts out of discussions. What
may not be so obvious is that typical F2F discussions
are often being lead and dominated by comments
that while they may be “correct”; don’t
necessarily reflect much critical thought. This
is particularly true during initial phases of the
discussion process when extroverts are sorting
out their ideas through verbalization. Asynchronous
discussions provide an environment in which introverts
thrive and extroverts can learn to pause and reflect
before responding, resulting in higher level thinking
early in the process. In fact, the carefully thought
through responses of students, who have had time
to reflect, often become the discussion leaders,
resulting in more learning opportunities for all.
Student-centered discussions ultimately
create an environment in which a learning community
can develop and grow. There is a wealth of educational
and communication research that supports that most
students, men or women, learn and think more critically
within a learning community, rather than working
in isolation.
Finally, it should be noted that
financial aid does not fund correspondence courses.
Online courses that do not provide sufficient interaction
between student and teacher, and among students,
themselves may be considered much like correspondence
courses and be ineligible for financial aid.
Approaches to discussion questions
While the frequency, and style of discussions
will vary greatly from course to course (and across
disciplines), there are several possible approaches
that are effective.
-
A section of the class is assigned
a question to answer in Unit 1, a different section
for Unit 2, etc.
-
Small groups are assigned a
question they collaborate on and then report
to the entire class.
-
Students choose a question to
answer from a list provided.
-
Each student is assigned an
individual question.
-
All students answer the same
question.
-
Peer review of individual assignments
in public forums
The style(s) you choose will depend on a variety
of factors. You must choose an approach that facilitates
students meeting the course or assignment objectives,
therefore a variety of approaches can be used depending
on what best fulfills the needs of the learning
objectives. Remember that the initial “discussion” question
is only the beginning of the process. A discussion
doesn’t develop until students post their
initial responses and begin to exchange responses
and reactions. The design of the discussion assignments
must reflect and stress this concept to the students.
Characteristics of effective discussions
Effective discussion questions share ten (10) characteristics,
no matter what type, style, or frequency of use.
They:
-
Support course/assignment learning
objectives
-
Generate interest
-
Questions facilitate thought,
not “just the facts”
-
Can be applied to everyday life
or professional goals
-
Provide clear explicit instructions
-
Receive points and/or graded
-
Reflect a percentage of the course
grade that is appropriate, feasible, and significant
-
Provide a rubric or other evaluation
tool that details the evaluation process
-
Require reply to other participants
-
Include effective facilitation
Taking the time to develop effective discussions
that include these characteristics is a significant
part of the instructional design of any online class.
Development will be based on an analysis of your
objectives, students, and discipline. Remember and
apply the old adage, “prior planning prevents
poor performance”!
Useful forums
While the forums (topics that organize discussions)
you include will be created for your specific course,
there are a few forums that can be beneficial for most
courses.
-
The instructor’s office – This
is your virtual office where you can post announcements
or reply to questions. Since this will be a public
forum (one all students can see), having them post
questions to this forum can save you time. You answer
a question once rather than in several individual
emails.
-
Student lounge – This is a
forum for “off topic” discussions, things
students wish to discuss not directly related to
the course. It can also be used to “shift” a
discussion that has strayed from the topic and is
no longer an adequate educational tool for the objectives.
You can ask the participants to take the discussion
to the lounge. In this way it provides an outlet,
but keeps the topic forum “uncluttered” and
focused on course goals. Some classes use this forum
a great deal, others hardly at all. It’s a
good idea to establish it “upfront” in
case you need it.
-
Private forums – These forums
may be useful under certain conditions for a variety
of reasons. Private forums can only be seen by those
students assigned to them by the instructor. They
can be used by students to post assignments and for
facilitators to provide feedback. They can be used
by the instructor and student to discuss problems,
individual private issues. They can be used to provide
encouragement, and make notifications. They also
serve as a “meeting spot” for collaborative
group assignments. Make sure to add yourself as a
member in all private forums.
Organization
Students can be frightened when they initially access
the discussion area of your CMS (course management system)
or conferencing software and see all the topics (forums)
listed for the entire course. They may even decide to
drop the course, simply assuming they won’t be
able to keep up, without even knowing what is actually
required. To avoid this reaction, and to organize your
forums to maximize learning, keep the following in mind.
These items will also create easy use and student interaction.
- Use the “timed release” formula – Allow
the discussion forums to be seen by students only as
they are introduced into the assigned work.
- List the most frequently used forums (like your
office) at the top of the list.
- List currently used forums next, meaning when you
move to the next unit, unit 2 goes above unit 1, etc.
- Use the same color to unify forums for each unit
and differentiate them from “ongoing” ones
or new ones.
- Label the forum exactly the same as you did in the
instructions. If your instructions say to post in “Unit
3 Application”, make sure the forum is named
exactly the same, not “3 app”. You can
use abbreviations; just make sure the forum is labeled
the same in both places, abbreviated or not.
Some CMS (like WebCT) allow you to link students directly
from the assignment to a specific discussion forum to
decrease confusion. Therefore designing effective question
is half the battle, the other half rests in how you facilitate
them.
Facilitating discussions
Remember the story about Goldilocks and her search
for the bed that was “just right”? One was
too soft, one was too hard. Only baby bear’s bed,
found at the end of her search, was “just right”.
In your own classes you want to find the “end” condition
from the very beginning!
Too hard and too soft
Most novice (and even many veteran) facilitators fall
into one of these ineffective categories. The “too
hard” facilitator is one that:
- Doesn’t trust his/her designed discussion
questions to elicit useful responses
- Controls the discussion
- Enters too quickly and/or too often into the discussions
If you aren’t sure, or haven’t designed
interesting applicable questions, those that ask for
more than the “facts”, you may have a tendency
to want to control the discussions. You may not trust
your design. This often leads a facilitator to jump into
a discussion too quickly, before classmates have a chance
to respond. Numerous instructor postings result and the
most frequent outcome is a dead halt to potential learning
situations. Why?
Traditional students (and even adult students) are typically
conditioned to believe in the “baby bird” theory
of education. They open their mouths and the teacher
drops in the worms of knowledge. Once the teacher has
given them the “right answer” they assume
there is no need to continue any discussion unless they
are confused. The discussion then dies or becomes a series
of mini-lectures from teacher to student. This is not
student-centered and results in little higher order thinking
by the student.
Additionally, the “too hard” facilitator
has a tendency to enter the discussion when a posting
elicits a response they did not expect. This is a behavior
that reinforces the “baby bird” theory. There
is only one right answer and it is what the teacher says!
If you have constructed an effective discussion question,
you’ll have confined the area of discussion to
the most important lesson to be learned. The students
explore, within the limits you have set, and should be
encouraged to do so as long as misinformation or unrelated
information isn’t being disseminated.
On the “flip-side” the “too soft” facilitator:
- Believes that discussions aren’t significant
or an effective way to learn.
- Believes he/she has designed questions that should
result in active discussions without further interaction
on his/her part.
- Initially has very active and productive discussion
forums without “stepping in”
If you don’t believe that interaction among students
is a significant learning tool, you’ll reinforce
students’ common initial reaction to them – it’s
just busy work and busy work doesn’t elicit critical
thinking. Work gets done quickly and without much thought,
therefore fulfilling the course requirements. Another
attitude operates from the facilitator who subscribes
to the “Field of Dreams” mentality that “if
you build it, they will come”. Hopefully this is
true; a good design is 50% of the solution. However,
most undergraduates and community college students will
need some type of guidance and support, especially during
the initial discussion assignments. The final type of “too
soft” facilitator is the one that appears to be
blessed. His or her first discussion questions result
in well thought-out postings and a flurry of replies
that stimulate additional discussion. The problem begins
when there are a decreasing number of postings, with
less thought, as the course progresses.
The commonality among these three is too little involvement
of the facilitator in the actual discussion forums. This
situation leads to a belief by students that the instructor
isn’t paying attention, so the assignment isn’t
important. They may even assume the instructor isn’t
attending class (logging on) regularly, so why should
they! Remember that they can’t determine if you
read every posting and are following the discussions
evolving. Even if “all is well” you will
still need to post “Great Job!” or “Enjoying
the Discussion” messages once in a while. You may
also need to communicate privately with students to encourage
more participation or critical thoughts and replies.
Facilitating discussions is a balancing act, not too
hard, not too soft, but just right!
Just right
The “just right” approach typically results
in outcomes that discussions were designed to accomplish.
They help students learn, they develop community, and
they create a student-centered classroom where students
often “teach” the class very effectively.
These types of discussions are generated by a facilitator
who:
- Makes his/her presence felt but doesn’t dominate.
- Enters discussions when asked a question directed
specifically to him/her.
- Redirects only when information is incorrect, or
has drifted out of the realm of the question asked
and is off-topic.
- Allows time for students to respond to each other,
before commenting.
- Immediately stops inappropriate, rude or hostile
postings.
- Promotes critical thinking through Socratic questioning.
Facilitating discussions asynchronously requires al “just
right” combination of diligence, self control,
and practice. It becomes easier with experience, and
results in a student-centered environment where critical
thinking thrives. Learning facilitation skills is often
a trial and error process. Best practice literature and
suggestions from veteran facilitators can provide effective
guidelines.
Keeping your balance
I often find myself on a teeter-totter ride when teaching
online because I’ve taught traditionally for over
25 years in the area of speech communication. I’ve
been teaching online for a few years now and teach six
different courses, five of which I’ve developed
from “scratch”. I’ve earned my M.O.T.
(Master Online Teaching certification). I’m the
co-author of two communication textbooks. I’m ABD
(All but dissertation) in Adult Education. I read, on
the average, 30 articles related to online teaching and
learning every eight weeks. You’d think with this
list, I’d have the perfect formula for facilitating
effective discussions and would have no difficulty finding
the “just right” balance. Yet, I struggle
every time I log on to my classes and read discussion
postings. Does this posting need a reply? Should I wait
longer to see if a student replies? Can I interject an
opinion, stating it as that, without “killing” the
discussion? Do I need to stimulate a discussion? If so,
should I use a Socratic question, or is it time to remind
them of the discussion rubric on which they will be evaluated.
Should I post an “Atta Boy/Girl” message
to point out superior work, or encourage a less participatory
student when they have posted an important point?
I share these concerns for two reasons. One, to let
you know, I understand how difficult effective facilitation
can be and the time commitment designing and promoting
flourishing discussions requires. Secondly, I want to
stress the fact that there is no “cookie cutter” design
for effective facilitation. The goal of asynchronous
discussions is the same as that of all communication,
a clear understanding of the message sent. While there
are similarities to all situations were effective communication
occurs, each situation requires a quick analysis so the
message sent is the message received. The following suggestions,
along with those already discussed, can provide you with
a frame work to analyze each discussion, deciding what,
if any response is needed.
- Write effective discussion responses – Provide
your students with a list or short lecture on the type
of response, both initial postings and replies, you
expect.
- Provide examples – Ask students who
post exemplary responses if you can use them as examples
in future classes. Be sure to find out, if they agree,
whether they wish to be accredited by name or anonymously.
- Function as gatekeeper – Encourage
and motivate students to participate by asking specific
questions and addressing them by name. Send them private
messages when they need to be reminded they aren’t
participating in an appropriate manner.
- 24 hour response - Never let a question
directed to you specifically go unanswered for more
than a day. You may reply with another question or
a request for their classmates to respond if that would
facilitate the discussion, but do reply. If you don’t
log in on Saturday and/or Sunday, be sure students
understand. If a question requires an answer that needs
time to research, send a message saying you are in
receipt of the question and will get back to the sender
within XYZ time limit.
- 36-48 hour wait period – If a message
doesn’t ask for a response from you, as a “rule
of thumb”, let it “sit” for a day
and a half or two days to encourage other students
to reply first. Or until you see a flurry of activity,
indicating interest, enthusiasm or confusion.
- Compensate for lack of nonverbals – Approximately
80% of what we communicate is done through nonverbal
communication. In a F2F classroom humor is usually
understood as that. Online with the loss of facial
expressions and vocal tones, messages meant one way
are often interpreted differently. Compensate for this
loss by using color, bolding, italics, underlining,
and other formatting to fill in these gaps. Emoticons
like smiley faces and abbreviations like LOL (laughing
out loud) can add to comprehension if they are understood
by all participants. Make sure your students also understand
that communication breakdowns can occur and teach them
to compensate as well.
- Delete rude or inappropriate postings – These
messages create a negative environment for free exchange
of ideas. They can spark defensive and hostile responses
from others. You’ll have to put on your striped
umpire shirt to disentangle the participants. After
deleting those postings, immediately inform the poster(s)
what happened to his/her message and why in a private
forum or via email. Let them know what the consequences
are if such postings continues. If you established
rules and consequences “upfront” in the
course, enforce them!
- Provide clear and explicit instructions – Good
directions are important. Online they are crucial.
Take the time to delineate each step of the discussion
assignment. It elicits better responses and saves you
time in the long run.
- Make objectives clear to students – Knowing
what is to be learned or accomplished in a discussion
usually results in more satisfaction for the student
and facilitator. Students know why and how to focus
messages. Facilitators are rewarded with effective
learning environments.
- Provide and stress the evaluation process – When
students know exactly how they will be evaluated they
tend to live up to those expectations. This is an area
that is often left undeveloped in both F2F and online
courses.
There is no “one size fits all” for discussion
questions and their facilitation, but being aware of
what is effective, and some of the problems that can
be averted, will have your discussions “off on
the right foot”. The final area that affects discussions
is evaluation.
Evaluation
Often how an assignment will be evaluated in a class
isn’t clearly spelled out, especially assignments
(like discussion questions or essay exams) that don’t
have one “right answer”. Typically students
are given a grading scale, but the difference between
letter grades isn’t clearly defined except as a
percentage. It is amazing that students allow this to
happen so often and don’t even ask how they will
be evaluated. They may grumble or be confrontational
after a grade has been received, but to ask for clear
directions before beginning the assignment does not cross
their minds. Perpetuating this student neglect online
is unacceptable for effective discussions. In fact, even
if you have a rubric or evaluation tool from a F2F assignment,
it may have to be adjusted or more detailed to be used
online.
What is the importance of evaluation tools? How can
they help you create effective discussion in your online
class? Evaluation tools can help:
- Students live up to teacher expectations – Lots
of studies substantiate that people at least attempt
to live up to the stated expectations of those in authority.
Consequently if you tell them what you want, you are
more likely to get that outcome.
- Provide a check list – When explicit
evaluation tools are presented in a useable form, they
become a check list for students to assess their own
work before posting. This often results in revisions,
prior to posting, and better work overall.
- Decrease student anxiety – Knowing
what is expected of them and how they will be graded
decreases stress and anxiety. This typically results
in more participation in discussions, just as relaxation
techniques help the nervous public speaker deliver
a more effective speech.
- Decrease defensiveness – Online students
are often more confrontational about grades than F2F
students. This may be because lack of F2F contact makes
it easier to send a message because you don’t
actually see a person. Maybe the type of student attracted
to online courses is more independent and assertive.
What ever the reason, this issue is reported by a large
percentage of online facilitators. Providing students
with explicit evaluation information tends to cut down
on these defensive reactions.
- Saves time – Using rubrics can save
you time in two ways. First, it adds to your assignment
instructions by clearly delineating how each part of
the assignment will be graded. This cuts down on the
need for students to ask questions to which you must
respond. Secondly, when grades are recorded and you
give feedback on the assignment, typical questions
like, “Why did I get this grade”, can be
handled by referring students back to sections of the
rubric. You could even cut and paste these sections
into your feedback messages.
- Promote critical thinking – Self-evaluation
is an excellent activity that spurs higher order thinking
skills. When students use the rubric to review and
revise assignments they learn more.
- Peer review – Peer reviews are more
effective when specific requirements are stated. Without
rubrics or other evaluation tools to guide this process,
you’ll get a lot of “I agree” and “good
job” replies.
- Provide consistency - When you have a rubric
that is applied equally to each assignment, it is easier
to be consistent while grading. This is fairer to all
students.
- You do the right thing – This may
sound altruistic, but think about it. Wouldn’t
you want to know how you would be evaluated by student
evaluation forms or by your supervisor or dean during
annual performance reviews?
The contents, form, type, and style of an evaluation
tool will depend upon several factors, including the
requirements of the assignment, level of student comprehension,
ease of design, and even instructor preference. In general
you should include any factor that you will be using
to assess student performance. Does spelling “count”?
Tell them. Are there a minimum number of replies they
are expected to make to other postings? Tell them. If
quality of responses is important (of course it is) then
define what a 5 point response looks like versus a 3
point response. Are there penalties for posting late?
What are they? Will you accept late postings? Tell them.
Try to develop concise, easy to read instruments, but
be as inclusive of criteria as possible. You can even
encourage participation in discussions by awarding points
for posting before the due date, thus providing a longer
time period for discussion. Develop the tools, and make
sure students know where and how to use them. Stress
their importance frequently at the start of the class
and you’ll have added the last component necessary
for effective asynchronous discussions.
Asynchronous
Discussion – An essential tool for teaching
and learning online.
Related articles
Asynchronous Online Learning Instructor Competencies
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Successful Online Teaching Using An Asynchronous Learner
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http://www.ion.illinois.edu/IONresources/onlinelearning/elements.html
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The effective digital Socrates: Developing trust in
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http://reach.ucf.edu/alnconf2001/presentations/1646.ppt
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Not available online but review is accessible at
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