DISCUSSION PATTERNS ONLINE Lenny Shedletsky

DISCUSSION PATTERNSONLINELenny Shedletsky TEACHER AND TA INFLUENCE ON UNDERGRADUATE DISCUSSION

TEACHER (or TA) INVOLVEDWhat do you notice for a pattern? TA teacher

WITH TEACHER (or TA) INVOLVED • Students respond to the teacher (or TA); • The teacher (or TA) responds to the student; • The students rarely respond to one another; • Look again--

WITHOUT TEACHER INVOLVEMENTWhat do you notice for a pattern?

HERE IS WHAT I NOTICE • Without teacher involvement in the discussion, students either post and flee—i.e., no interaction, or: • They occasionally respond to one another; • Look again at an example of post and flee; • Look at students responding to one another; • Look at students post but do not respond to each other—where there is 2 posts, it is the teacher responding;

STUDENTS POST IN PARALLEL—they each post and flee Every post with more than 1 total post is the teacher responding

HERE ARE 2 PATTERNS THAT TEACHERS COMPLAIN ABOUT TEACHER RESPONDS TO STUDENT & STUDENT RESPONDS TO TEACHER POST and FLEE

WITHOUT THE TEACHER (or TA)

SO WHAT IS A TEACHER TO DO? • I suppose if you wish to have a Socratic dialogue, engage the individual; • If you wish to have students engage one another, stay out of it; • When do students engage one another? • An educated hunch is: • When they are moved by topics that matter to them; • When they need one another to complete an assignment; • When they are not following the rule, “I must respond to the person with more power and status.”

DISCUSSION PATTERNS ONLINE Lenny Shedletsky