{"id":15724,"date":"2020-08-13T16:27:22","date_gmt":"2020-08-13T21:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/?p=15724"},"modified":"2020-08-13T16:49:40","modified_gmt":"2020-08-13T21:49:40","slug":"plan-and-facilitate-quality-online-discussions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/plan-and-facilitate-quality-online-discussions\/","title":{"rendered":"Plan and Facilitate Quality Online Discussions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div align=\"center\"><a title=\"discussions\" href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/illustrations\/exchange-of-ideas-gear-gears-debate-222790\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2013\/12\/03\/08\/19\/exchange-of-ideas-222790_1280.jpg?resize=625%2C442&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"gears with silhouette of two heads facing each other\" width=\"625\" height=\"442\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>A common assignment given in an online class is for students to participate in a discussion forum. Many online discussions forums are setup so that students are asked to respond to a prompt and reply to posts from their classmates. The discussions are likely to be underwhelming if the discussion forum is not setup to encourage substantive discussions.<\/p>\n<p>When planning and facilitating quality online discussions, you should provide:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Discussion prompts that encourage student engagement<\/li>\n<li>Clear\/specific instructions and expectations<\/li>\n<li>Specific\/descriptive grading criteria<\/li>\n<li>Strategic feedback<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) developed a set of resources to help instructors teach effectively, whether in an on-campus classroom or in a virtual learning environment. <a href=\"https:\/\/acue.org\/online-teaching-toolkit\/\">Online Teaching Toolkit<\/a> has resources and recommendations that can be immediately put to use by instructors, to benefit both faculty and their students. ACUE\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/acue.org\/online-teaching-toolkit\/#sec4\">Plan and Facilitate Effective Discussions<\/a> resource, which is a part of the toolkit, has recommendations for a general rubric for discussion forums, reflection activity, and discussion feedback that you may find helpful.<\/p>\n<p>In a recent Quality Matters (QM) Success Story Webinar, Lisa Kidder and Mark Cooper shared a resource that has suggestions for <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1xlpTFw0V9Fot9l2mgqhQO6k7xWLayfCa-OfQ-Oo8SBg\/edit?usp=sharing\">Alternative Discussion Structures<\/a>. The resource includes specific learner instructions and grading criteria for each alternative discussion format. Some of the alternative discussion formats in the resource are reflections, case studies, timeline collaborations, student facilitation, small group\/share, video analysis, in the news, and debates. The resource explains where the connection to QM Specific Review Standards and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines for the discussion formats are.<\/p>\n<p>If you are new to using discussions in Brightspace, you can find <a href=\"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-documents\/#discussions\">how-to resources for discussion forums<\/a> on our blog. <\/p>\n<p><small>Image credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/illustrations\/exchange-of-ideas-gear-gears-debate-222790\/\">image<\/a> by geralt from <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/service\/license\/\">Pixabay<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A common assignment given in an online class is for students to participate in a discussion forum. Many online discussions forums are setup so that students are asked to respond to a prompt and reply to posts from their classmates. The discussions are likely to be underwhelming if the discussion forum is not setup to <a href=\"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/plan-and-facilitate-quality-online-discussions\/\" class=\"more-link\">...continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \"Plan and Facilitate Quality Online Discussions\"<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,8],"tags":[110,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-15724","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-online","7":"category-teaching","8":"tag-discussions","9":"tag-engaging-students","10":"h-entry","11":"hentry","12":"h-as-article"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p82MQk-45C","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15049,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/tips-to-improve-online-discussions\/","url_meta":{"origin":15724,"position":0},"title":"Tips to Improve Online Discussions","author":"Janice Florent","date":"March 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A common assignment given in an online class is for students to participate in a discussion forum. Most discussion forums are setup so that students are asked to respond to a prompt and reply to posts from their classmates. Do you want to setup your online discussion forums to encourage\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;CAT &amp; Mouse: E-Learning&quot;","block_context":{"text":"CAT &amp; Mouse: E-Learning","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/online\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"laptop computer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2016\/11\/10\/13\/38\/notebook-1814343_960_720.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2016\/11\/10\/13\/38\/notebook-1814343_960_720.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2016\/11\/10\/13\/38\/notebook-1814343_960_720.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14961,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-137-use-private-discussions-for-journaling\/","url_meta":{"origin":15724,"position":1},"title":"Brightspace Tip #137: Use Private Discussions for Journaling","author":"Janice Florent","date":"January 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Many instructors are using reflective journaling as a teaching strategy. Reflective journaling is used as a means of aiding reflection, deepening students' understanding and stimulating critical thinking. Brightspace does not have a Journal tool. However, you can setup private discussion forums for journaling using the Groups and Discussions tools. A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Brightspace Small Plates&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Brightspace Small Plates","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/brightspace\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"journal with ink pen","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2017\/05\/16\/13\/19\/writing-2317766_1280.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2017\/05\/16\/13\/19\/writing-2317766_1280.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2017\/05\/16\/13\/19\/writing-2317766_1280.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17945,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-296-use-private-discussions-for-journaling\/","url_meta":{"origin":15724,"position":2},"title":"Brightspace Tip #296: Use Private Discussions for Journaling","author":"Janice Florent","date":"January 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Many instructors are using reflective journaling as a teaching strategy. Reflective journaling is used as a means of aiding reflection, deepening students' understanding and stimulating critical thinking. Brightspace does not have a Journal tool. However, you can setup private discussion forums for journaling using the Groups and Discussions tools. A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Brightspace Small Plates&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Brightspace Small Plates","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/brightspace\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"journal with ink pen","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2017\/05\/16\/13\/19\/writing-2317766_1280.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2017\/05\/16\/13\/19\/writing-2317766_1280.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2017\/05\/16\/13\/19\/writing-2317766_1280.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18674,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-345-use-private-discussions-for-journaling\/","url_meta":{"origin":15724,"position":3},"title":"Brightspace Tip #345: Use Private Discussions for Journaling","author":"Janice Florent","date":"September 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Many instructors are using reflective journaling as a teaching strategy. Reflective journaling is used as a means of aiding reflection, deepening students' understanding and stimulating critical thinking. Brightspace does not have a Journal tool. However, you can setup private discussion forums for journaling using the Groups and Discussions tools. A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Brightspace Small Plates&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Brightspace Small Plates","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/brightspace\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"journal with ink pen","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2017\/05\/16\/13\/19\/writing-2317766_1280.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2017\/05\/16\/13\/19\/writing-2317766_1280.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2017\/05\/16\/13\/19\/writing-2317766_1280.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19398,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-391-use-private-discussions-for-journaling\/","url_meta":{"origin":15724,"position":4},"title":"Brightspace Tip #391: Use Private Discussions for Journaling","author":"Janice Florent","date":"June 11, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Many instructors are using reflective journaling as a teaching strategy. Reflective journaling is used as a means of aiding reflection, deepening students' understanding and stimulating critical thinking. Brightspace does not have a journal tool. However, you can setup private discussion forums for journaling using the Groups and Discussions tools. A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Brightspace Small Plates&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Brightspace Small Plates","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/brightspace\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Thoughtful black man in wireless earphones with notepad on balcony","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/images.pexels.com\/photos\/4559769\/pexels-photo-4559769.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/images.pexels.com\/photos\/4559769\/pexels-photo-4559769.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/images.pexels.com\/photos\/4559769\/pexels-photo-4559769.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/images.pexels.com\/photos\/4559769\/pexels-photo-4559769.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/images.pexels.com\/photos\/4559769\/pexels-photo-4559769.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19697,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-403-use-private-discussions-for-journaling\/","url_meta":{"origin":15724,"position":5},"title":"Brightspace Tip #403: Use Private Discussions for Journaling","author":"Janice Florent","date":"August 31, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Many instructors are using reflective journaling as a teaching strategy. Reflective journaling is used as a means of aiding reflection, deepening students' understanding and stimulating critical thinking. Brightspace does not have a journal tool. However, you can setup private discussion forums for journaling using the Groups and Discussions tools. 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