A More Authentic Online Discussion

Credit: iStock.com/Pavel Muravev
Credit: iStock.com/Pavel Muravev

Discussion forums have brought both promise and disappointment to online educators. They promise to allow all students to lend their voice to a discussion without worry of being interrupted or slowing down the class. But they often degenerate into places where students repeat one another and make only perfunctory comments to satisfy the bare minimum discussion requirements.

It is easy to blame students for not taking advantage of the affordances offered by online discussion, but in reality, much of the blame lies with the format that online discussion has used. The traditional online discussion adopts a model that is far afield from a real discussion, and it should come as no surprise that it often fails to generate vigorous debate. Commentators have suggested various alternative formats for online discussion, but these are usually still artificial, guided by a paradigm that is not based in real discussion. I suggest that faculty instead look to real-world discussions to guide online discussion.


To continue reading, you must be a Teaching Professor Subscriber. Please log in or sign up for full access.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Articles

I have two loves: teaching and learning. Although I love them for different reasons, I’ve been passionate about...
A team icebreaker activity for which there is no obvious solution can help scaffold student behavior in group...
Traditional slide decks for hosting content in live videoconferences have the major drawback that the content is static...
Academic integrity is one of the most critical aspects of education. Despite this, students' ability to cheat is...
In 1936, psychologist Muzafer Sherif reported a landmark study on the creation of social norms. Sherif made use...
Large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT and Google Bard, are in our classrooms whether we are aware...
The rolling TV cart: a beloved icon of the educational system in the 1980s and ’90s. As students,...

Are you signed up for free weekly Teaching Professor updates?

You'll get notified of the newest articles.

The Teaching Professor Conference 2024

June 7-9, 2024 • New Orleans

Connect with Fellow Educators at The Teaching Professor Conference!