Categories for Students

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Discussion Board Basics

By Lisa Young – Scottsdale Community College | 2012

Definition of discussion boards

Two quick videos that explains how discussion boards can be used to engage students:

Advantages of Using Discussion Boards in Hybrid Courses:

  • valuable feedback 
  • connections seeing other point of view 
  • perspective
  • validation
  • stimulating responses – less terrifying
  • not in real-time
  • come to some conclusions/summaries
  •  can see specific evidence from the text and can refer to in F2f class
  • can allow students to express themselves as needed

An article on building community with discussion boards.

Check out page 5 of this document for great discussion board resources.

Disadvantages of Using Discussion Boards in Hybrid Courses:

  • discipline
  • responses may be brief
  • time and effort on part of instructor

Writing Discussion Board Questions

Tips for writing discussion board questions:

An article that will help you to identify the characteristic elements of critical thought, describe the features of online discussion that support critical thought, and explore the role of the instructor in facilitating successful online discussions.

Discussion Board Rubrics

Rubrics for discussion boards are useful as they provide a basis for grading students on their discussion board posts. Criteria can include participation, content, grammar, etc.

Samples of discussion board rubrics located at Maricopa’s Blended Learning site.

Retaining Our Students

We’ve tabulate the results from the ticket out from Fall 2007 Convocation. The following list groups the various "Retaining Students" ideas into trends that Naomi Story identified. Please read through and consider responding to this post. Things to consider:

  • Which of these suggestions will you do? when? where? how?
  • Which of these suggestions have you done in the past? How did they play out?
  • What other categories do you see emerging in this list of suggestions?

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Challenging our Students

We’ve tabulate the results from the ticket out from Fall 2007 Convocation. The following list groups the various "Challenging Students" ideas into trends that Naomi Story & Shelley Rodrigo identified. Please read through and consider responding to this post. Things to consider:

  • Which of these suggestions will you do? when? where? how?
  • Which of these suggestions have you done in the past? How did they play out?
  • What other categories do you see emerging in this list of suggestions?

(more…)

Beloit’s Mindset List

Beloit College’s annual listing of the mindset of incoming freshmen is yet another reminder we can’t work from those crusty yellow lecture notes (not that any of you do of course!). Personally, I always find the class assumptions behind these types of lists fascinating. These students have never had to roll down the car window? Somehow I think many of our students still have access to cars that require rolling down the window. However, I love the recognition of media as historian while discussing that these freshman only know JFK and Malcolm X from the films. Be sure to realign your thinking and check out the list!

Reaching Out to Students

We’ve tabulate the results from the ticket out from Fall 2007 Convocation on Monday. The following list groups the various "Reaching Out to Students" ideas into trends that Naomi Story & Shelley Rodrigo identified. Please read through and consider responding to this post. Things to consider:

  • Which of these suggestions will you do? when? where? how?
  • Which of these suggestions have you done in the past? How did they play out?
  • What other categories do you see emerging in this list of suggestions?

(more…)