Discussion boards provide an outlet for students to engage with course content in a public way. Students are provided a prompt for a course-related topic, and they are asked to discuss their reactions to the prompt with their peers.
Discussion boards are primarily used in one of the following two contexts: 1) For instructors who wish to get students thinking about an upcoming class topic, discussion boards could provide a “safe space” for sharing experiences and brainstorming about upcoming content. 2) For instructors whose aim is to help students articulate their opinion in a compelling way while also empathizing with and understanding diverse viewpoints, discussion board prompts might ask students to choose a stance and defend it with evidence-based reasoning.
Discussion boards can be used in a variety of ways, though the most common is for an instructor to initiate discussion with some kind of prompt based on course material. No matter what topic an instructor chooses, discussion boards have many benefits. Not only can they be used to help students articulate cogent ideas, but they also offer instructors an assessment tool to measure students’ level of engagement and understanding. For students who might feel uncomfortable sharing opinions “on the spot” in class, discussion boards provide a lower stress outlet for class participation. Many Learning Management Systems (including UMKC’s Canvas) allow for discussion boards, making implementation into courses effortless.
Discussion boards have been a wonderful addition to my pedagogy classes for a variety of reasons. First, they allow students plenty of time to formulate and articulate their ideas in a coherent, compelling manner. For students who might be shy, and especially for non-native English speakers, I have found that discussion boards “level the playing field,” allowing all students to participate in class using a format that works for them. In this way, discussion boards foster equity. Typically, I have found that discussion board assignments are most effective when used to introduce a new topic. For example, when starting a new unit, I might assign 1 or 2 short readings and then post a discussion board prompt related to those readings. This not only ensures that students are engaged with the assignment material, but it also ensures they have thought about it ahead of class time. This leads to deeper, more productive in-class conversations.
Another way to use discussion boards is to get students to share insights from the reading with one another and to have them answer questions posed by their classmates. I (Tara Allen) have used a “3-2-1” discussion board prompt in my graduate courses.
(1) Write a post that discusses 3 specific things that you learned from the readings/class discussion so far in this module, 2 things that you want to learn more about or discuss further and 1 question you have on this material. Be sure that you provide specifics in your post. Your original post should be at least 300 words and include citations (in APA format) for any sources used.
(2) Respond to two of your classmate's posts. Those responses should be either about the 2 things that your group member wanted to learn more about or the 1 question that they had on the topic. You should provide them with additional information and/or answer their question using resources. Each response post should be at least 100 words in length and include citations (in APA format) for sources used.
I have found the type of discussion board helpful to identify areas where students are struggling and topics they find most interesting from the reading. It has also been a great way for students to seek out external resources to answer questions posed by their classmates, help their classmates work though difficult material, etc. The posts are graded with a rubric in Canvas, which makes them easy to evaluate, even in a class of 25+ students. There are a lot of ways that the 3-1-2 format would be adapted for use in various settings. https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/examples-of-classroom-assessment-techniques.shtml#3-2-1-format
Brierton, Sara, Elizabeth Wilson, Mark Kistler, Jim Flowers, and David Jones. “A Comparison of Higher Order
Thinking Skills Demonstrated in Synchronous and Asynchronous Online College Discussion Posts.”
NACTA Journal 60, no. 1 (2016): 14–21. https://www.jstor.org/stable/nactajournal.60.1.14.
Gerber, Sue, Logan Scott, Douglas H. Clements, and Julie Sarama. “Instructor Influence on Reasoned
Argument in Discussion Boards.” Educational Technology Research and Development 53, no. 2 (2005):
25–39. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30220427.
Jewell, Vivian. “Continuing the Classroom Community: Suggestions for Using Online Discussion Boards.” The
English Journal 94, no. 4 (2005): 83–87. https://doi.org/10.2307/30046465.
Normore, Lorraine F., and Brandy N. Blaylock. “Effects of Communication Medium on Class Participation:
Comparing Face-to-Face and Discussion Board Communication Rates.” Journal of Education for
Library and Information Science 52, no. 3 (2011): 198–211. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41308896.