Online discussion forums are a great tool to use in face-to-face classes. They give all students in a class the ability to be heard. They give students time to reflect on their responses. They allow students to participate even if they are absent.
But there are other reasons to consider using online discussion forums in face-to-face scenarios (with a high return on investment!):
SEE WHAT YOUR STUDENTS LOOK LIKE
It is really awkward not knowing what someone looks like after working with them a few times a week for three months. I ran into two students of mine in the parking lot after class halfway through the semester. I didn’t even recognize them. It was the first time I saw their faces in person and I realized that without this serendipitous encounter I might never have seen their faces. Ever.
And that’s alarming. I was floored when I ran into my students. One of them had a (completely unexpected) mustache! Never in a million years would I have thought he had a mustache. He just didn’t seem like a mustache person. But he was.
Using a discussion forum is a good opportunity to have your students upload pictures of themselves and enhance the in-person community.
Two other bonuses:
- The collateral learning of having students upload an image in the LMS.
- If you assign this during the first week, you will have a cheat sheet to help you match faces to the names.
METACOGNITION FOR STUDENTSOne of the potent tools in Guided Pathway Pedagogy is metacognition – thinking about thinking. Helping students recognize how they learn best. One way to kickstart this is to have every student upload an image of their primary study zone. In addition to the image, have the students exercise their metacognitive skills; for instance students should explain why they like the place they study, and what they would change if they could.
Perhaps you could have students comment on their setup of their peers. Let them explore ideas of things they like or don’t like. Let them interrogate what their optimal learning environment is.
And this doesn’t have to be at home, either. Students can post pics of their favorite study space on campus. Or a coffeehouse they frequent.
NOVEL INTERACTION
Creating novel experiences is a great way to keep students engaged. When students encounter unique activities in your class, your class sticks out. Sometimes a face-to-face class can’t provide opportunities for every student to participate. FlipGrid is a neat way to give every student a chance to share a quick video with the class in a discussion. It takes a few minutes for teachers to set up, but students can just hit a button and start their video (works on computers and mobile devices seamlessly).
I like FlipGrid because it brings a fun and dynamic mechanism to discussions, it’s easy to use, and it provides a novel experience. You can embed it right in the LMS, too. FlipGrid helps me escape the table stakes of a discussion and elevate the experience for the students.
There are plenty of other examples out there, too. If you want to share other ideas, let’s discuss it!
Connected Conversation image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
