Online Forum Tips
Strategies for More Successful Digital Discussions
Online forum discussions too often feel like busy work, resulting in little learning payoff for time and energy expended. This post offers some strategies, drawn from my observations and experiences as an instructor of online courses, that can help discussions feel more organic and promote tangible learning benefits.
#1 | Make short and focused comments. Concise discussion posts with a single idea, observation, or argument can often be more effective — not to mention easier and more enjoyable to read — than long posts with many ideas.
#2 | Organize your discussion in threads. For example, in Canvas® discussions, “replying” to a discussion prompt starts a new discussion thread. People can either reply in the thread (by responding to the “reply”), or start their own threads (by “replying” to the forum initiator’s original discussion prompt). Treat threads as topical mini-discussions: start new threads with each new idea, topic, or argument, and reply to others’ comments in the appropriate established threads.
#3 | Provide new observations, ideas, or arguments. Discussion posts that simply support or restate the comments of another do little to further the conversation. In contrast, posts that raise new ideas, take a stand or state an argument, or pose interesting questions provoke others’ reactions and encourage dialogue.
#4 | Use multimedia content. A strength of online interactions is the ability to easily bring in other (digital) content. Strengthen your observation, comment, or claim — and make it more engaging at the same time — by embedding a relevant image or figure, video, or audio (e.g. podcast).
#5 | Participate early and (relatively) often. I get it — participating in online forums while also fulfilling other class activities can feel burdensome and quickly result in “discussion fatigue.” Nonetheless, the fewer people that participate, the less engaging discussion forums tend to be, and comments that come at the end of a discussion period are unlikely to be read and leave little time for discussion if they are. The way I approach discussions is to set aside 2–3 short blocks of time during the week exclusively for discussion participation. I enter these into my calendar, and set event reminders to make sure I don’t forget.
#6 | Finally — how you approach discussions is the biggest determining factor of the value you get out of them. If you approach discussions as busy work to be “ticked off” for a grade, you will likely see little return. If, in the other hand, you approach them as opportunities to engage the material, practice critical reasoning and communication, and test the ideas of your peers, they will likely be meaningful additions to your class experience.
Of course, every group has a different dynamic, and every individual a different method, however, practicing these strategies will help you get the most out of online discussion forums.
