effective-online-discussions - home

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 <h1><strong><span style="color: #800000;">MANAGING</span></strong></h1>
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 <h1><strong><span style="color: #800000;">DISCUSSIONS</span></strong></h1>
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 <h2><strong>MANAGING EFFECTIVE ONLINE DISCUSSIONS</strong></h2>
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Online discussions these days can take place in a number of different spaces:<br />
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<ul><li>discussion forums</li><li>blogs</li><li>wikis</li><li>email</li></ul><br />
This wiki will be looking primarily at managing discussions in forums.<br />
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Before we look at the question of how to manage online discussions we need to ask another question: <strong><u>WHY</u> ARE ONLINE DISCUSSIONS IMPORTANT? WHY WOULD YOU INCLUDE THEM AS PART OF YOUR COURSE OR GROUP ACTIVITY?</strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Some suggestions:</span></strong><br />
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<ul><li>to test/assess knowledge</li><li>to share opinions</li><li>build community</li><li>have participants get to know each other (social)</li><li>icebreaker activities</li><li>get participants familiar with the tool</li><li>check understanding of key concepts</li><li>encourage processing content and reflection</li></ul><br />
<strong><span style="color: #800000;">HOW</span> TO PROMOTE EFFECTIVE DISCUSSIONS</strong><br />
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<strong>Most important:</strong><br />
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<ul><li>explain why you're doing it</li><li>establish expectations<ul><li>how long should posts be?</li><li>how often do you (teachers and participants) respond to posts?</li><li>who summarises, and how often do you summarise discussions?</li></ul></li><li>respond promptly</li></ul><br />
<strong>In addition:</strong><br />
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<ul><li>model the process<ul><li>don't be pompous or too serious - be natural/conversational</li><li>ask open questions of everyone</li></ul></li><li>encourage participants to answer questions posed by other participants</li><li>encourage participants to start new discussion topics</li><li>monitor whether someone is not getting any responses (and respond)</li><li>don't answer all the questions/dominate the discussion. (a ratio of 1:5 or 1:8 is about right)</li><li>use the backchannel ie email acknowledging good posts that you want other participants to respond to</li></ul><br />
<strong>NOW IT'S YOUR TURN:</strong><br />
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This is a public wiki - please add your thoughts.<br />
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URL of this wiki: <strong>http://effective-online-discussions.wikispaces.com/</strong>