Engaging Discussions: Building a Community Instead of an Assignment

1. Engaging Discussions: Building a Community Instead of an Assignment

2. Why are we here?

3. WHY ARE WE HERE? • Because learning isn’t easy.

4. WHAT MAKES A GOOD DISCUSSION SPACE • Clear purpose • Correct styles • Student motivation • Faculty participation • Proper weight

5. HOW DO WE ACHIEVE THIS? • Planning • Building • Engaging • Assessing

6. WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH TELL US? • A few students dominate… • But more enter over time. • Participation between students increases over time. • Constructive interactions are the main type of posts.

7. 1 Planning What do you want them to learn?

8. Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln

9. WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? • Why the content is important? • What are you expecting them to learn? • What are you expecting them to demonstrate? • This is the basis for the construction of learning objectives.

10. WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO THE STUDENT? • What will the student gain from the discussion? • Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic motivation • Tangible vs. Intangible rewards • What is important to you is rarely what is important to the student(s)

11. GOOD LEARNING OBJECTIVES… • Focus on student performance • Aim at the terminal behavior • Include one learning outcome per objective • Objectives should be quantifiable and measureable • Action verbs (explain, analyze, defend, etc.)

12. PARTS OF A LEARNING OBJECTIVE • Introductory stem (time or condition, not required) • Action verb • Outcome (result focus) • Example: By the end of this session, attendees will be able to createquantifiable learning objectives

13. EXAMPLES OF REVISED LEARNING OBJECTIVES • Original version: Understand immigration policy. • Revised version: Describe the history of American immigration policy. • Original version: Describe and create a marketing plan for your organization. • Revised version: Create a marketing plan for your organization.

14. EXAMPLES OF REVISED LEARNING OBJECTIVES • Original version: Complete the assignment. • This is not a learning objective. • Original version: Explain the benefits of various exercise modalities for an elderly person. • Revised version: Determine the most appropriate exercise modality for health maintenance in the patient who is elderly.

15. OBLIGATORY BLOOM’S TAXONOMY DISCUSSION • Remember that the skills you are asking your students to use should be applied to the correct level. • If the skills are lower order skills, your discussion is probably less effective.

16. Use the action verbs on the following slide to write/revise a learning objective. Discuss your learning objective(s) with someone near you. WORK BREAK Time to Think About Objectives

17. Action Verbs for Objectives

18. Student Led VS. Instructor Led Discussion An analysis of posts made in the two types of discussions (Poole, 2000) showed that when students led discussions their peers posted more frequently and those posts were longer and more detailed.

19. Student Led VS. Instructor Led Discussion • By ceding the leadership role instructors: • enable students to ask questions • challenge the statements of their peers

20. Student Led VS. Instructor Led Discussion • Instructor role: • Assign the readings or determine the general parameters of the discussion. • Work with the facilitators to ensure they are prepared to lead the discussion successfully • Evaluator

21. THERE IS NOTHING TO DISCUSS! • Discussion is always possible, no matter the content. • The use of tangential subjects is necessary at times. • Ask yourself, what you and your colleagues would discuss in relation to the topic… • Or, ask a colleague.

22. 2 Building How will you create the learning space?

23. BACK TO BLOOM’S TAXONOMY • Engagement and collaboration requires higher order thinking. • Discussions should aim for the top four levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. • If you want to engage the lower levels, consider alternative assessment measures.

24. GENERAL TYPES OF DISCUSSION QUESTIONS • Analysis • Compare and contrast • Cause and effect • Clarification • Yes/No • Elliptical • Leading • Slanted

25. Types of Discussion Activities • Brainstorming • Debates • Polling • Role Playing • Peer Review • Problem-Solving • Cooperative Debate • Collaborative Writing • Writing Groups • Virtual Field Trip • Case Analysis • Ask An Expert

26. STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION How many initial posts do you expect from each student? Are students required to reply to each other?, if so how many replies? Are students required to reply those who replied their post? What are the deadlines for each post and response?

27. Choose a discussion type that you haven’t used before and start developing a new discussion assignment. Discuss with someone near you and be ready to share. WORK BREAK Time to Work on a Discussion

28. 3 Engaging How will you keep them engaged?

29. WHAT MUST A FACULTY MEMBER BE? • Facilitator (posts initial questions or topics; keeps discussion “on track” and redirects as necessary; functions as group leader) • Manager (organizes and archives posts and threads as needed; answers administrative questions) • Filter (evaluates posts; deletes posts as necessary) • Expert (answers content-related questions)

30. WHAT MUST A FACULTY MEMBER BE? • Editor (functions as text editor; formats posts) • Promoter (encourages “lurking” students to post) • Marketer (promotes/explains discussion objectives) • Helper (encourages students via private email if necessary) • Fireman (provides rules of netiquette; removes “flames” or other negative posts)

31. A SUCCESSFUL DISCUSSION FACILITATOR… • Makes his/her presence felt but doesn’t dominate the conversation. • Encourages students to respond to each other. • Immediately stops inappropriate, rude or hostile postings. • Promotes critical thinking with thought-provoking questions.

32. A SUCCESSFUL DISCUSSION FACILITATOR… • Makes expectations clear. • Functions as a “gatekeeper”. • Makes objectives clear to students.

33. AN EFFECTIVE FACILITATOR Knows when and how often they should be posting to the discussion.

34. Acknowledge all first responses individually and expediently If possible, send a message to individual students, welcoming them to the discussion and making them feel supported. You need to start creating an online community, and just like in a face-to-face meeting, first impressions are very important.

35. Explain your evolving role as facilitator Let students know that you will have a strong presence for the first week or two in the term, and will gradually back out of the discussions.

36. BE PRESENT… … does not mean to jump into the discussion right away.

37. TYPES OF INSTRUCTOR RESPONSES

38. Questions • Asking about a new topic. • Following up on something the other person has already said. • Getting more details.

39. Questions • “What additional evidence is there to support your thinking about X? • “What don’t we know about X, and how might that help us consider this issue another way?” •  “Can you articulate your point another way or provide an example to clarify it?” •  “How else might you interpret X?”

40. Statements • An opinion or comment • Sharing something relevant that happened to you • Giving out some information.

41. Statements • “Yeah, I love that show. I like how they've opened up the scope of the series.” • “Yeah, I remember having a brutal time studying for my LSAT's too.” • “That reminds me… I was reading an article today and it was talking about that issue. It was saying that the government is planning to..."

42. 4 Assessing How will you evaluate them?

43. Rubrics in Discussions • Provide… • Clear expectations • Descriptions of levels of performance • Critical thinking • Grading consistency • Detailed feedback • Timely feedback

44. TYPES OF RUBRICS • Holistic - Contains broad objectives and lists evaluation scores. • Analytic - Breaks down the characteristics of an assignment into parts.

45. HOLISTIC RUBRIC • Contains broad objectives and lists evaluation scores, each with an overall criterion summary that encompasses multiple skills or qualities of the objective. • Provide a single score based on an overall impression of a student’s performance on a task. • Saves time by minimizing the number of decisions the evaluator makes. • Does not provide detailed information, may be difficult to provide one overall score.

46. https://topr.online.ucf.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Lowe_2011_discussion_rubric.pdfhttps://topr.online.ucf.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Lowe_2011_discussion_rubric.pdf

47. ANALYTIC RUBRIC • Breaks down the characteristics of an assignment into parts, allowing the scorer to itemize and define exactly what aspects are strong, and which ones need improvement. • Provides useful feedback on areas of strength and weakness. • Criterion can be weighted to reflect the relative importance of each. • Analyzes each component. • Takes more time to create and use.

48. https://topr.online.ucf.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/IDL6543_Discussion_Rubric.pdfhttps://topr.online.ucf.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/IDL6543_Discussion_Rubric.pdf

50. WEIGHTING DISCUSSION • Discussion should be important to the course. • In a student’s eyes, the points are a direct relationship with the importance. • How do we determine the percentage of the total course grade?