With effectively-written questions, the discussion forum can be a engaging environment of sustained active learning.

Here are some situations where Blackboard Discussion Boards could be a perfect fit:

• "Gallery walks" where students post their final projects so others can access, study, and admire their work, as well as ask questions and offer congratulations

• Students post their approach to a problem or procedure (e.g. task analysis of how to wrap a twisted ankle), and then compare and contrast approaches, focusing on nuances

• Students post a record of a presentation they made and then classmates can post follow-up questions and comments

• Students "talk" in small groups before joining a class-wide discussion and sharing the key points of their discussions

• Students use small-group discussion boards to work on something (e.g. math problems) and then share what they did in a discussion board open to the whole class

• Students swap similar (but not identical) homework assignments to get an idea of different approaches before turning something in

• Following a reading assignment, faculty nudge students towards greater engagement and understanding with questions and follow-ups using a Socratic-like approach

• When working on a multi-week project, students share their challenges, a-ha moments, and just what's on their mind

• A running conversation spanning the length of the semester where students have to share links, articles, videos, and photos that relate to class concepts

ENGL 101 (Online Degree Pathway)

(Created by Tiffany Hitesman with assistance from Gina Persichini and Christy Aceves)

A nice example of prompting students to probe deeper into a text and question why the writers structured and worded things the way they did.

• Discussion Board assignment on the uses of a liberal education

GENCOUN 522: Clincal Genetics II

(Designed by Leah Fleming with assistance from Christy Aceves)

• A role play via discussion board

Other resources

• Sample discussion board instructions and guidelines

• A detailed discussion board rubric with notes on using it

• A simple discussion board rubric

Some nice features of Blackboard discussion boards

• There is a setting where students cannot read posts until they've posted something themselves

• Posts can be anonymous

• It is not necessary to assign points for every discussion. You can grade discussion participation at set times during the semester (e.g. at mid-point and at the end), or never

• You can give video (or audio) feedback on discussions (or any other assignment).

• Instructors can stipulate how many posts and/or replies that a student must make before the discussion "assignment" is considered "complete"

• In the Grade Center, there is a blue pie chart icon showing how complete a discussion assignment is, and a yellow "!" icon to show the student has completed the minimum number of posts required

• Instructors can control whether students can edit their posts or not

• It's possible to embed images and videos into a discussion post

• There is an option to "Mark as Read" so readers can keep track of discussions they're following

• You can avoid strange formatting when you copy and paste text by pasting with "Shift + Ctrl + V" instead of just "Shift + V"

Problems with a popular approach

One of the most common question formats for online asynchronous discussions is for instructors to pose a question or brief list of questions, and then to ask students to first reply to the question(s) provided and then to return later to reply to the responses of two peers. Without careful question construction and discussion facilitation, the result can easily become a large volume of posts with little substance.

• Excerpt from Actively Engaging Students in Asynchronous Online Classes by Shannon A. Riggs and Kathryn E. Linder

Types of Discussion Questions

Classifying your discussion questions and thinking about the purpose can help create conversations that are deep and meaningful instead of shallow and repetitive.

• Different types of discussion questions

Tumbleweeds in your discussion forums?

• 10 Reasons Students Don't Participate in Online Discussions

Some more discussion activity ideas

• 21 Ways to Structure an Online Discussion, Part 1 by Annie Prud’homme-Généreux, PhD in Faculty Focus.

Feedback

• How to Give Video Feedback in Blackboard

Support

• The Boise State Help Desk provides technical assistance with this tool to faculty and students

• If you would like instructional design and technical support for integrating this technology into your online course, email stephaniechism@boisestate.edu

• Common Questions About Discussions from Blackboard Help

If you have a Blackboard site, then you can build a discussion board!