Not responding right away to a student in a DB
This may make sense in other disciplines, however in math I do not believe this is a good idea. In math students are very nervous and would like encouragement. I like to check into my DB daily to make sure that everyone is on the right track. The risk you run by letting an error go unaddressed is that the other students might follow this bad example. Are there other subject matters which not responding right away could cause some trouble?
Tanya,
Everything is based on content, students and other components of teaching online, but "immediate" responses such as within 5 minutes will become overwhelming. If a course is "paced" correctly, whatever guideline that is set for timely feedback should work. Whatever instructors set as their rule, they must stick with it.
I try to be very active and proactive on the discussion board, but I try not to be overwhelming or dominate the discussion. I try to guide students to explore and discuss alternatives and different viewpoints, so I post additional questions to ponder. I try to keep them on track as students will tend to follow one of the first couple of posts whether it is right or wrong and does not meet the requirements of the assignment.
Brian,
You are right. You don't want to dominate the discussion, but facilitate it. Many times I don't participate in a discussion board until 10-15 students have posted and then I summarize what has been said thus far and post a question to continue the conversation. It's helpful for me.
Hi Tanya,
I find a Help Me or Questions additional forums helps maintain some of that nervousness. Students are pretty good at answering each other. I like to give prompting questions but I also highly praise students answering their peers. I also have a notation that I have up to 24 hours to answer - as I am not Borg and not always at my computer- this too helps students answer each other.
Sometimes it really creates a strong community of learners but sometimes I get grumpy emails. I try to promote a strong sense of collaborative learning and for my longer courses it generally works.
Jennifer,
I agree. I use FAQ discussion board forum and allow students to add questions and solutions as they develop their own solutions. This works very well. Thanks for sharing.
I understand that in math not responding to the student's discussion board immediately could cause problems. I do not teach math so I do not have these issues. I do intentionally wait to see what my students are responding to, then I will include my own post. I think that if the instructor posts to early, the student may be somewhat inhibited in expressing their opinion, because they know what the instructor views are on the topic.
Linda,
Again, the subject matter may provide different reasons why we do things differently. Thanks!
The rule of thumb for me is to provide feedback as early as possible because you are right Tanya. Students tend to follow other students on the board and use similiar website, that may not be suitable to use, such as Wikianswers.com. So, early interaction to spot these concerns is necessary sometimes sure.
Sloan and Tanya,
Early intervention is very important. Why do students remember wrong facts/solutions better than the right ones? Ha!
This is particularly true with Biology. The online classes move very quickly and if students do not understand either what the question is asking or what the actual information means, they are in big trouble. However, the discussion boards tend to be fairly straight forward questions, so I like to let the students practice answering the questions or making suggestions as to where to find the answers instead of me directly answering the questions. In addition, so many students want/demand instant gratification or want to be given the answer instead of them taking the time to actually think about it on their own, first.
Joanna,
It is great to see you apply what we are discussing specifically to you content. We have to remember that our content across all disciplines is not the same. Thanks.
Tanya,
I agree that frequent, timely follow-up is essential. I teach sociology and some of the content pulls in personal opinions and values. A student may make a blanket statement or express a social belief that is not embraced by the majority on the thread and I therefore have to intervene to help clarify the points and keep the discussion on topic. A controversial statement can derail and otherwise useful discussion topic/thread, so the Instructor must be present and help guide the discussion. It appears easier for students to get off topic when discussing social issues and the like.
Darrin and Tanya,
Thanks for continuing the conversation. Keep those students on topic. ;-)
I don't know about causing problems, but I also like to check my discussion board daiily. It is actually required by my employer. We have to respond to each student's post in a timely manner. However, as I stated in a previous discussion, I like to end my responses with questions. It gives the author a chance to respond, and it gives others the chance to engage in the conversation. I like the idea of daily checks.
Nate,
Checking daily is consistent. The students should be checking daily as well to see if they can provide posts to further the conversation or help others with answers to their questions.
I find that this can apply to all subjects because I have personally experienced this when I sort of let the other students "teach" one another, they talked about something totally irrelevant. They went off on a tangent and then I had double work because I tried to get the students to repost.
LaBoore,
Have you tried assigning students to be the leader of discussion boards in which they have to keep the others on track? Works for me. Thanks!
