23 Discussions/Discussion Alternatives for Asynchronous Courses (External)
23 Discussions/Discussion Alternatives for Asynchronous Courses (External)
The following discussion guidelines were written by Dr. Vanessa Dennen, a professor of Instructional Systems and Learning Technologies at Florida State University.
Discussion Board Guidelines by Vanessa Dennen /<EMAIL_ADDRESS>Feel free to modify for personal use. Attribution and a linkback always appreciated.
Asynchronous Discussion Guidelines
Grading Overview:
Graded discussions will occur during XX weeks of the course. You may earn up to X discussion grade points per week, with your final discussion grade comprised of your weekly grades for the highest X weeks (X points multiplied by X weeks = XX points, total). In other words, I will discard your lowest X weekly discussion grades when calculating final grades. No makeups or late participation will be counted. You have X weeks to be absent from discussion or do as you wish. There is no need to send an excuse for the week you are absent. Just take the break when you need or want to. You are adult learners – you can self-regulate!
Timeline:
The discussion period for each week begins on Monday (12:00 am EST) and ends on Sunday (11:59 pm EST). Contributions made after the clock ticks over from Sunday into the next Monday do not count.
Expectations:
You are expected to be an active participant in each weekly discussion. You have a full week to participate and can choose the days/times when you participate. Barring a major emergency or illness, there should be no reason for you to be unable to participate.
Your discussion contributions are your opportunity to explore and build on the readings, thereby learning in the process. Posts should not be viewed as busywork, nor as summative assessments. Instead, discussion posts offer opportunities for practice and engagement. In the discussion, you get to practice using key terms and concepts related to the course through articulation and reflection. You are writing posts that will be read and responded to by others, which will challenge you to have something worthwhile to write about and to be clear and precise in your language and examples.
You are expected to engage in dialogue with your classmates throughout (i.e., on multiple occasions) the week. Do not jump on the discussion board on Sunday night at 10 pm, write four posts in 30 minutes, and expect full points for your participation. You also will not get full points for writing all of your posts during 1 hour on Wednesday morning. If I wanted you to do that, I would call the activity Message Posting rather than Discussion. You cannot be an effective dialogue partner if you jump in once, post a bunch of messages, and leave.
Dialogue requires an exchange between people. With that in mind, you should:
- Remember that your audience for your posts is your class, not just the instructor.
- Write messages that invite others to respond. Ask your classmates if they agree with you, if they have similar examples to share, or if they agre