Motivating Students to Participate in Discussions
This module covered a lot of good information for getting to the root of why many students fail to participate in the discussions. Of course, thinking the student is only interested in getting by is a main reason for not participating; but this module offered many other valid reasons. As instructors, we can design programs to meet everyone's needs.
Carol Silvis
Agreed, Carol. Targeting the potential reasons for the lack of participation is the trick in an Online environment. Without the face-to-face, it can be a challenge to discover the reasons behind the lack of participation. I usually contact students who are lagging in this area for one-on-one intervention.
Lisa
This reminds me of Vroom's Expectancy Theory. Motivation can be thought of in the following equation:
F=VIE
F= Motivational Force
V=Valence - Do I want a reward? (grade)
I=Instumentality - Will I be rewarded for succeeding?
E=Expectancy - Will I succeed at the task?
A student will do the work necessary to meet the needs of the assignment. Which also falls out of Expectancy Theory. The higher the reward and the more they need it and the higher liklihood they will succeed will increase their motivation. It is our jobs as instructors to play with these three items than just focus on motivation.
That is an interesting way of thinking about motivation. Thanks for sharing it with us Edward.
Michele
I agree that this module really helped with suggestions on how to help students participate in the online discussion forums! Also, great info on synchronous challenges as well.
At my university, we required 2-1-hour chat sessions per week...and I gained some valuable knowledge on how to work through such a discussion.
It is interesting to note that core material should take up about 30 minutes of the chat, according to the module.
The idea of opening and closing remarks is valuable, too, in helping set the tone of the discussions!
Great module. Great insight!
I am glad you found this module so helpful Stephanie!
Stephanie,
I also noted that the core material should be limited to 30 minutes. Next session I will think about leaving time at the beginning for 'opening' remarks and small talk. It seems that the students do this anyway! I also think this helps to build a comfortable classroom setting.
In terms of asynchronous discussion, to create a more comfortable learning enviornment,I create an additional discussion forum for current events. This is not graded, but I do respond to students who post articles or summaries of relevant issues. Not all students participate, naturally, but it allows those students who are really engaged in the material to go one-step further. I can also use the information in this current events forum as a springboard for synchronous chat topics.
Yes, this was a good one! I'm not fully persuaded, though, that synchronous teaching should be as limited as this module seems to suggest. Small groups do very well working together synchronously. Why limit it to just one student? After all, isn't a large classroom a synchronous experience? Answers here?
Yes, I think you can argue that a traditional classroom is a synchronous experience. And I agree that a synchronous experience can be a positive experience. However, the challege lies in motivating students to participate, especially when the biggest "selling point" to taking an online class is that you can "attend" whenever the student wants to attend.
Yes, I agree: small talk among students is important. And the good news is I don't think there is much you have to do to encourage this small-talk, getting-to-know-you type of communication that students need to engage in.
Sometimes I will purposely come in a little late to one of my scheduled chats. When you give students just a few minutes alone, they will start IMing each other to fill that time. And before you know it, a lot of stuff can be said. (Also, from an instructor's POV, you can get a read on where students are and what they are most worried about in terms of pending individual projects, group projects, or discussion board topics.)
Best,
Mica
The equation for motivating students is interesting. many students may find that on line course may not be as interesting as listening to an instructor in person. I agree with the equation presented.
The fact that some schools do not make attendance to a Live Chat disscusion mandatory and there is no way for the instructor to know if the student listened to the archived chat, the way I get around that is I give very specific information during my chats that if the student does atend and or listen to the chat that information will show up on their submitted assignments.
Yes, I agree that attending when you want to attend is the "biggest selling" of online schools, but there must be a way for those schools take "attendance" of Chat sessions. I monitor student activities and if they do not log on within a certain time frame I e-mail them and their advisors of the lack of participation of the student.
Including key information in the chat is certainly one way to get students to participate. How do you accomodate the students that can't participate due to their schedule?
I would add a thought to the discussion. I would like to have a way to track the students that do/do not listen to the Chat at a later time/date.
When I grade a student's submission I often find errors that "should not" be there as I specifically covered the material in the Chat. This creates 2 problems: The first problem is how to "appropriately" critique the work. Yes, I want to be positive, but that is difficult if someone simply chose not to do what I stated as a requirement of the assignment. It might be easier/more productive to critique someone who did not understand the assignment, but I don’t know what happened in the cases of those who were not with me “live.â€
The second problem is answering the question of how I move to giving directions for the next assignment. If I know if the student(s) did not listen to the Chat I can take one approach. If the student(s) listened to the Chat and I was not clear enough, then I need to take another approach to the next assignment. Again, not knowing if the student(s) attended the Chat creates a problem of not knowing how to help them improve.
Butch
