Facilitating Online Discussion

How do you foster engaging and educational dialogue that doesn’t take you a whole day to grade? How can you make discussion boards or class blogs spaces for meaningful, student-driven conversation about course topics and materials? We’ll look at examples of discussion forums across the disciplines and consider ways to use online discussion for a variety of aims, including generating ideas for an upcoming paper or project; analyzing a reading; encouraging group work, peer review, and class community; and exploring questions in preparation for a class session or exam.