Instructor Step-by-Step Guide:
Discussion Forum Best practices
Divide your class into teams (small groups)
- A discussion forum with over 20 students quickly becomes chaotic and impractical to manage effectively.
- The Post Permissions Tab, in the Discussion Forum settings, allows you to customize the access and rights of contributors, such as team assignments, attachments and "peer review"..
2. Threaded View allows you to see the question and the post(s) below
- Use the Interaction Tab of the Discussion Forum settings to change the view as well as other options.
3. Post Clear Rules & Expectations for your discussion forum.
- Example:
i. Contribute, don't reiterate. Extend what others have to say by locating other examples
. or elaborating on the point
ii. Offer your own opinions and not someone else's. Please view the document on plagiarism.
iii. Make your contributions reasonably short and to the point.
iv. Please spell check and avoid grammatical errors. Avoid acronyms used in texting.
v. Be sure to cite sources using APA guidelines
vi. Post your comments by January 12, 2010
vii. Grades will be determined by timeliness, thoughtfulness and relevance
4. Best Practices for Facilitation
- Guide the conversation without dominating. Prompt for participation when necessary.
- Set rules and standards concerning kindness, respect, clarity, relevance and debate
