April 7, 2008

Good Morning!

Please remember that your 75% completion date is next Monday. I will be going into your courses at that time to check for completion and answer any questions you might have.

I would like to blog today on the importance of discussion boards. There has been a lot of research on the importance of building a learning community through threaded discussion boards. One of the main components for building a successful online course is to create an effective system for student interaction. This can be done through learning groups, team work, and threaded discussion boards. To accomplish a high level of interaction and overcome the isolation of online learning we need to have an engaging a thoughtful discussion board in every unit. Please take a look at the discussion boards you have developed for your courses. Not only should they engage the students in the course material, but they should allow the students to think beyond what they have read or learned in other places, and should allow the students to be able to interact respectfully with each other.

I have had people ask me if there should be a discussion board in the last unit of the course. The argument is that because it is the last unit of the course that students no longer need the learning community because the course is over. I strongly feel that it is important to finish a quarter in a manner that enables students to integrate and summarize course material at more complex levels and to increase retention of learning for application in later course work or living. Therefore, your discussion question should encourage students to recall what they have learned through the duration of the quarter and to comment on other students posts.

I look forward to seeing your progress in your courses next week!

Amy