Good Discussions

“No matter what the subject matter is for the online course, research has shown that students want to be engaged in an effective manner in the course.”

BRITT, D. M. (2015). How to Better Engage Online Students with Online Strategies. College Student Journal, 49(3), 399–404.

With that in mind, discussion becomes an important part of an online course where students can show they are engaged in their learning, and can interact with their peers and you. It is through discussion that ideas are shared, debated, challenged, and exchanged.

Notes for preparing your students for discussions:

• Be sure you have included in the module all of the readings and other media students will need to prepare for discussion.
• Be sure to give students a clear idea of when their initial and reply posts are due, and what is expected for each.
• Finally, offer students a rubric to give them an idea of what you expect in discussions. See Sample Discussion Grading Rubric below.

Notes for writing your discussion prompts:

Discussion prompts can be written to yield more engaging and community-building student interaction. Avoid using simple yes/no or leading questions.

“A good question is both answerable and challenging. It will inspire analysis, synthesis, interpretation, and critical thinking.”

Designing Effective Discussion Questions | Teaching Commons. (2020). Retrieved 10 March 2020, from

It is helpful to think about the various kinds of questions you might ask and the cognitive skills they require to answer. Davis (1993) lists a range of question types, including:

• Exploratory questions: probe facts and basic knowledge
• Challenge questions: interrogate assumptions, conclusions or interpretations
• Relational questions: ask for comparisons of themes, ideas, or issues
• Diagnostic questions: probe motives or causes
• Action questions: call for a conclusion or action
• Cause-and-effect questions: ask for causal relationships between ideas, actions, or events
• Extension questions: expand the discussion
• Hypothetical questions: pose a change in the facts or issues
• Priority questions: seek to identify the most important issue(s)
• Summary questions: elicit synthesis

Additional helpful hints can be found at: Discussions: Eberly Center Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation

See below for a few suggested discussion question starts.

Analyze

• “Why…”
• “How would you describe/explain...”
• “What is the meaning of…”

Compare or Clarify

• “What is the difference/similarity between…”
• “What is meant by…”

~Based on Designing Effective Discussion Questions, Stanford Teaching Commons