Initial questions for online learning

Discussions are a convention. Why?

There are rules and student participate in discussion because it is a graded activity. They are mini writing assignmentes. I am concerned that for some students it is just busy work. They go through the motions, regurgitate the reading material or (if they have not read the assigned texts, try to sound like they did read.

I my experience, online discussions are rarely a space students use to think something out together. Often, questions posted are probes that seek a confirmation that the student read the material. Discussions are an accountability measure and one of the venues for assessment. They are easy to facilitate as long as the software allows for the message board type exchange.

What if they are structured to function the same way face-to-face meetings function? As a way to gauge what students think about the material they are learning…

There are often rules: use a collegiate tone, academic writing conventions, initial post minimums and deadlines, two meaningful replies must be posted by the certain date. These seem to pass from one instructor to another via training, with little challenge to convention.

In my online psych program, I had an opportunity to participate in various classes from a wide range of content specific areas. Some discussions were exciting, stimulating, they challenged me to look up additional resources, go above and beyond the required readings. I was able to reflect, synthesize, and apply the learned material, make it my own. Other discussion were mechanical. I learned more from doing readings on my own. What was different? How can it be a different experience?