The ubiquitous cell phone and laptop have made student chat a common part of live classes, much to the consternation of instructors. Not only does it distract the teacher, but studies prove the common-sense intuition that distractions undermine learning (Blasiman et al., 2018). But a
The asynchronous discussion forum greatly improved the breadth and depth of discussion that is possible in a class. Whereas face-to-face class discussion is mostly students talking to the instructor, the LMS discussion forum facilitated student conversations with one another.
Artificial intelligence is quickly integrating itself into all parts of learning as a tool for both students and faculty. Now it is coming to online discussion in the form of Packback, a tool that integrates into the learning management system
Social annotation tools allow instructors to post a reading to a website and then have students tag it with comments. These provide many benefits for students and instructors. One, they can demonstrate to the instructor that students are reading an article, especially if the
Faculty often use discussion strategies to engage their students and push them into higher levels of learning. But many instructors we have talked to have noticed that discussions can often feel like busywork or small talk. Providing structure is one way to elevate discussions
Discussion forums have brought both promise and disappointment to online educators. They promise to allow all students to lend their voice to a discussion without worry of being interrupted or slowing down the class. But they often degenerate into places where students repeat one
The learning management system (LMS) discussion forum comes off as archaic and overly controlling to today’s students, who are used to working in a much richer social media environment. Whereas the LMS forum is designed for lengthy text comments, young people are used to
The learning management system (LMS) transformed class discussion by introducing an asynchronous forum that allows each student to participate without the time limit of a live class. But it has become a bit long in the tooth as apps have made video many students’
Online faculty are often looking for ways to add real-time discussion to their asynchronous courses. But discussions fall flat when only a handful of students participate. I found an activity that solves this problem by combining videoconferencing with group work and a whiteboard in a
Decades of research show the value of instructor presence and student engagement for online learners. Yet many instructors wonder how well their efforts to foster engagement really work, leading some to question the value of discussion and other types of interactions.
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