{"id":7185,"date":"2018-07-17T09:30:36","date_gmt":"2018-07-17T08:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/?p=7185"},"modified":"2018-10-18T13:25:41","modified_gmt":"2018-10-18T12:25:41","slug":"5-ways-to-make-online-discussions-work-in-your-teaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2018\/07\/17\/5-ways-to-make-online-discussions-work-in-your-teaching\/","title":{"rendered":"5 ways to make online discussions work in your teaching"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/files\/2018\/07\/5-ways-to-promote-discussion5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-7191\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/files\/2018\/07\/5-ways-to-promote-discussion5-1024x933.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"501\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/files\/2018\/07\/5-ways-to-promote-discussion5-1024x933.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/files\/2018\/07\/5-ways-to-promote-discussion5-300x273.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/files\/2018\/07\/5-ways-to-promote-discussion5-768x700.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/files\/2018\/07\/5-ways-to-promote-discussion5-100x91.jpg 100w, https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/files\/2018\/07\/5-ways-to-promote-discussion5-150x137.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/files\/2018\/07\/5-ways-to-promote-discussion5-200x182.jpg 200w, https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/files\/2018\/07\/5-ways-to-promote-discussion5-450x410.jpg 450w, https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/files\/2018\/07\/5-ways-to-promote-discussion5-600x547.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/files\/2018\/07\/5-ways-to-promote-discussion5-900x820.jpg 900w, https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/files\/2018\/07\/5-ways-to-promote-discussion5.jpg 1063w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Have you ever tried to complement your teaching with an online discussion and found that the student engagement is sporadic or non-existent? If you have you may stand with many tutors who have given up on online discussions, but did you know:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ensuring our students engage in discussions is a matter of inclusivity and equality. The main stream cohort of your students will engage in disciplinary discussions with each other outside of teaching time because they are in the same or similar social groups, but those on the periphery often do not get the opportunity to discuss disciplinary topics in the same way.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Discussions are a process where students receive immediate feedback &#8211; feedback from their tutor, feedback from their peers and self-reflective feedback as they prepare to contribute to the discourse and respond to the questions raised.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The depth and richness of your students\u2019 learning is increased by topic-related discussions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Online discussions do not replace face-to-face discussions, but they can supplement them and they have a number of advantages, including the ability for students to participate in them in their own time and wherever they are. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">So how do we get online discussions to work?<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>1. Start using the discussion forum at the start of the module <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Setting the expectation that your students will be engaging in online academic discussion early in the term helps them to continue the practice for the duration of the module. In this period it is useful to set out to your students how engagement in online discussions will help them learn the academic theories at a deeper level than they would otherwise. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It is harder to get students to participate in online academic discussions if you begin to use them midterm, because the students will think of them as optional and an unnecessary addition to their studies.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>2. Reference the discussion regularly in face-to-face teaching<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When you mention the discussions in your teaching the students begin to understand participation in the forum as being integral to their development in the module. In order to kick off a discussion it is useful to tell students, during teaching time, that you have set a question on the online forum and you expect them to respond. Once an online discussion has taken place, reference it in your teaching, and summarise the responses and the learning that the discussion has evidenced.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are advantages when you post an academic question on the forum just before your teaching session. Many of the students will go to straight to their VLE site after the face-to-face session and will want to respond to the questions you\u2019ve set immediately. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>3. Pose open questions that do not have right or wrong answers<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It\u2019s important to ask the right questions to provoke reflective and critical discussion. Discussion is more likely to ensue if your questions are open and ask for the students\u2019 experiences and their opinions. Questions that have right or wrong answers do not tend to provoke much discussion and can leave students who leave the wrong answer feeling exposed and demotivated.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>4. Ask questions that are relevant to the student assessments<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The focus of the students\u2019 attention tends to be on what will be assessed. It is therefore important that the students understand that their participation in the discussion will align with learning that ultimately meets the assessment criteria.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The number and quality of the responses improve when the questions you ask clearly align to the assessment criteria, and you can be quite explicit how they do so when you introduce the discussion topic. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If the module is assessed by essay, the number and quality of the responses improve when the questions are generic enough that they will be useful to all students whatever their essay title, for example, focusing the questions on theories that can be applied to any essay in the topic area.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>5. Pose a new question every week<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are advantages in designing your curriculum with regular learning activities. Activities that are one-off or irregular feel piecemeal and students feel free to not engage. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The regularity of activities means that more students are likely to do them, so you may see more participation in online discussions if you set them every week and keep referring to them in your face-to-face teaching throughout the term.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In summary, disciplinary discussion is an important part of your students\u2019 learning. Some of your students will get the opportunity to discuss the topics by dint of the fact they have friends in the cohort, but some will not unless you set up opportunities for them to do so. Online discussion is one way to give them this opportunity, but it is often hard to get your students to engage so I hope this post has provided some strategies to help facilitate online discussion to support your teaching.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you\u2019re interested in using online discussion in your teaching feel free to contact the Technology Enhanced Learning team on <a href=\"mailto:tel@sussex.ac.uk\">tel@sussex.ac.uk<\/a>. Please also have a look at <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">our recent blog post<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> highlighting <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2018\/06\/29\/canvas-highlights-discussions\/\">the Discussions feature in Canvas &#8211; the new Sussex VLE<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Canvas Training<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Places are filling up fast on our Canvas Fundamentals training workshops. We strongly encourage <strong>all Sussex academic staff<\/strong> to sign up for a place. Attending the workshop will familiarise you with Canvas and your options for teaching with the new VLE. It also gives you access to your migrated modules from 17\/18.<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear: both;width: 12em;margin: 0;padding: 0.1em 0.2em 0.1em 0.2em;background-color: #df465a;text-align: center\">\n<p style=\"font-variant: small-caps;font-size: 1.4em;font-weight: bold\"><a style=\"text-decoration: none;color: #fff\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/learningtechnologies\/canvas\/canvastraining\">book a place now<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Professional Services staff are also welcome to book a place on this workshop.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-7185\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2018\/07\/17\/5-ways-to-make-online-discussions-work-in-your-teaching\/?share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-7185\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2018\/07\/17\/5-ways-to-make-online-discussions-work-in-your-teaching\/?share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-tumblr\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-tumblr sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2018\/07\/17\/5-ways-to-make-online-discussions-work-in-your-teaching\/?share=tumblr\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Tumblr\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2018\/07\/17\/5-ways-to-make-online-discussions-work-in-your-teaching\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to print (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pinterest\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-pinterest-7185\" class=\"share-pinterest sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2018\/07\/17\/5-ways-to-make-online-discussions-work-in-your-teaching\/?share=pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pinterest\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pocket\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-pocket sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2018\/07\/17\/5-ways-to-make-online-discussions-work-in-your-teaching\/?share=pocket\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pocket\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever tried to complement your teaching with an online discussion and found that the student engagement is sporadic or non-existent? If you have you may stand with many tutors who have given up on online discussions, but did<span class=\"ellipsis\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2018\/07\/17\/5-ways-to-make-online-discussions-work-in-your-teaching\/\">Read more &#8250;<\/a><\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-7185\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2018\/07\/17\/5-ways-to-make-online-discussions-work-in-your-teaching\/?share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-7185\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2018\/07\/17\/5-ways-to-make-online-discussions-work-in-your-teaching\/?share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-tumblr\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-tumblr sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2018\/07\/17\/5-ways-to-make-online-discussions-work-in-your-teaching\/?share=tumblr\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Tumblr\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2018\/07\/17\/5-ways-to-make-online-discussions-work-in-your-teaching\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to print (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pinterest\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-pinterest-7185\" class=\"share-pinterest sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2018\/07\/17\/5-ways-to-make-online-discussions-work-in-your-teaching\/?share=pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pinterest\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pocket\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-pocket sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2018\/07\/17\/5-ways-to-make-online-discussions-work-in-your-teaching\/?share=pocket\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pocket\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[137817,157001],"tags":[137817,137836,157000,4185,157025,4957],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4IWEK-1RT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8446,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2020\/08\/18\/combining-face-to-face-and-online-teaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":7185,"position":0},"title":"Combining Face to Face and Online Teaching","date":"18th August 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Technology Enhanced Learning recently hosted a webinar which aimed to share a range of simple but powerful approaches to combining face to face and online teaching. The session featured five contributors from across the different academic Schools who shared examples, drawn from their own disciplinary area, of how we might\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blended learning&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/files\/2020\/08\/My-Post-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8989,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2022\/01\/25\/how-to-encourage-student-engagement-using-canvas-discussion-forums\/","url_meta":{"origin":7185,"position":1},"title":"How to encourage student engagement using Canvas discussion forums","date":"25th January 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Online discussion forums can be a useful tool for asynchronous communication amongst teachers and students. The functionality allows for both focused (singular posts for short-lived interactions) and threaded discussions (multiple posts\/comments for in-depth conversation). Discussions are integrated within Canvas, and they can be used as an assignment as they are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Canvas&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/files\/2022\/01\/unnamed.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7941,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2019\/10\/15\/outdoor-learning-introducing-the-twalk-twitter-in-the-wild\/","url_meta":{"origin":7185,"position":2},"title":"Outdoor learning: Introducing the Twalk, Twitter in the wild","date":"15th October 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"#sussextwalk19 #LearnToTransform happy to start our twalk pic.twitter.com\/XoOrpBtzTH\u2014 Paolo Oprandi (@paolo_oprandi) September 16, 2019 Lectures and seminars are the staple of higher education teaching and learning. Seminars are usually the dedicated teaching space for students to engage in discussions and activities that relate to the topics introduced in lectures. In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Active learning&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7983,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2019\/11\/22\/focus-on-panopto-quizzes-and-discussions\/","url_meta":{"origin":7185,"position":3},"title":"Focus on Panopto: Quizzes and Discussions","date":"22nd November 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Panopto brings some superb features for improving engagement with your students, two of those features are Quizzes and Discussions which will be the focus of this blog post. Quizzes Panopto allows you to create quizzes which can be set to appear to viewers at predetermined points in the recording. There\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Panopto&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/files\/2019\/11\/Focus-on-Panopto-graphic-5.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8800,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2021\/09\/13\/flexible-tools-for-teaching-online-and-face-to-face\/","url_meta":{"origin":7185,"position":4},"title":"Flexible tools for teaching online and face-to-face","date":"13th September 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"This chameleon can adapt to many environments - can our teaching do the same? As we start to deliver face-to-face teaching, with some students still not able to make it onto campus, it is a good time to think about teaching tools which can be used online and face-to-face. One\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/files\/2021\/09\/mark-stoop-PM0u9R50pTs-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6260,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2017\/07\/25\/active-learning-feedback-learning-spaces-tel-joins-sussexuni-away-days\/","url_meta":{"origin":7185,"position":5},"title":"Active Learning, Feedback and Learning Spaces - TEL joins in @SussexUni Away Days","date":"25th July 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Technology Enhanced Learning are always keen to be involved in school specific events and this year we have been pleased to be invited to contribute at many of the academic schools\u2019 teaching and learning away days. These are sessions which are set aside to both examine current teaching practices within\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Active learning&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"\"Feedback\" flickr photo by Skley https:\/\/flickr.com\/photos\/dskley\/15719784736 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-ND) license","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/files\/2017\/07\/15719784736_d10da39873.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7185"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7185"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7193,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7185\/revisions\/7193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}