Taking discussion online

Online discussion allows students to interact with classmates outside class. An online discussion is not fixed in time or space: students can log on at any time from any Internet-enabled computer to seek clarification for issues they encounter in their coursework, to discuss topics raised in class, or to initiate new discussions on related topics. A successful online discussion has the same synergistic effect of group or in-class discussion, in which students build on one another's perspectives to gain a deeper understanding of the materials.

An online class discussion area can be beneficial in a number of areas:

• Class preparation. You can use a course discussion area to prepare for class and adapt class time to address the needs of the students. Monitoring the class discussion will help you identify topics that need clarification or that have captured the interest of your students, and you can use the insights you gain to structure class time. Also, if you use the Web discussion area to address some of the more straightforward student questions, you can make better use of class time.
• Shy students. Students who are reticent in class may find an online discussion area the perfect place to discuss class topics. Participating in an online discussion is less threatening than speaking in front of peers. And in an online discussion, students can compose, edit, and refine their ideas before expressing them to the group. If you set up a discussion area for your course, you may find that some of your quiet students actually have a lot to say!
• Sensitive issues. Discussion areas work well for courses that cover topics that may be too sensitive, controversial, or personal for some students to discuss face-to-face. Students contributing to online conversation may feel less exposed than in a classroom setting, particularly if you allow them to write using pseudonyms.

There are also drawbacks to using online discussion:

• Too much participation. An active discussion area can add hours of reading to the regular course load, or distract students from other equally or more important coursework. A discussion area can also become unwieldy for the instructor: weeding through submissions and responding where needed can quickly become impractical. When thinking about whether to include a discussion area on your Web site, decide how much time you can (and want to) spend monitoring submissions. Consider assigning the task to a teaching or research assistant, but be sure to have him or her bring to your notice any items that might require your attention. You can also take a hands-off approach: create the discussion area for your students and make no attempt to monitor the activity. Although this approach does not take advantage of some of the benefits of a discussion site, it is still an advantage for your students. You might find that students are more apt to contribute if they know you're not listening.
• Not enough participation. If you are contemplating online discussion for a course that does not normally have much in-class discussion, consider whether it is worth the effort. If the subject doesn't normally provoke much discussion in the classroom, you may find that the online discussion is limited to questions about assignments or scheduling. Be realistic about your expectations: don't go to the effort of setting up a forum thinking that your students will converse online if you are teaching a subject that elicits little in-class exchange. (See Encouraging participation, below.)

How discussions work

Much online interaction relies on programs called CGIs (Common Gateway Interfaces), which negotiate a dialogue between the user and the Web server. The dialogue goes something like this: the user types information into a form on a Web page and submits the information to the Web server. The server accepts the information and processes it in some predefined fashion — adds it to a database, emails it to someone, appends it to a Web page. The server often sends a confirmation to the user, perhaps an acknowledgment of receipt or a page that displays the submission.

There are plenty of commercial and homemade options available for online communication, so you don't have to write your own CGIs in order to have a discussion area on your course Web page. Check with computing support staff to see what is available at your institution. Programs that provide some form of Web-based communication may already be installed on the Web server. If you are using a courseware tool to create your site, interactive features such as online discussion or chat are likely to be built into the software.

Types of discussion

There are two main types of discussion modules, the "chat room" and the discussion area, and the main distinction between the two is time. Participants in a chat room post and are responded to in real time. If you are not in the "room" while the dialogue is taking place, you're not part of the discussion. The chat model provides synchronous communication; it is like a phone conversation or a face-to-face dialogue. People who post to discussion areas, by contrast, are asynchronous participants in online conversation: to contribute to a discussion you needn't be online when a comment is submitted, and a posting can be responded to days later.

In an educational endeavor like a course Web site, a discussion area is likely to be more useful than a chat room. The type of student dialogue sought by educators is better suited to the discussion format than the less-structured and somewhat ephemeral chat.

Single-topic discussion

In a single-topic discussion all contributions are listed in sequence on the Web page in order of submission. The discussion may be guided, for example, covering class readings, lectures, or films. A single-topic discussion is a group conversation: one person speaks at a time, and you enter the discussion where it left off.

Threaded discussion

In a threaded discussion users have the option of responding to one another directly. Although there may be a general topic, as in the discussion example above, subtopics emerge as students respond to specific postings. These secondary postings are the "threads" that spin off from the main discussion: a student responds directly to a comment made about the main topic, and another student responds to the response, and so a thread is formed. A threaded discussion is a group conversation with simultaneous side conversations. There is little sense of sequence in a threaded discussion; you can easily chime in at any point in the conversation.

Chat room

Online conversations take place in real time in chat rooms. When a user posts a message to a chat room, every other user who is viewing the chat room Web page sees the message and can respond immediately. Participating in a chat room is like participating in a face-to-face group discussion: you need to pay attention and speak up if you want to contribute.

As its name implies, an exchange in a chat room can be less substantial than that in an online discussion area. In fact, for educational purposes a chat room provides few of the benefits of online communication. Because the conversation takes place in real time there is little time to craft a response. Chats are unstructured so it is difficult for students to follow the thread of discussion, and instructors will likely find trolling the chat archive for cogent contributions arduous and possibly fruitless. Setting up a course chat room is not a bad idea, but its pedagogical value is likely to be less than that of an asynchronous discussion area.

And yet, chat is an excellent tool for building community online. This can be particularly important in distance education, where students cannot speak face-to-face because much (or all) of the course is online. A chat mechanism can facilitate one-to-one online communication, as well as online conferencing to support collaborative activities. Ambitious examples of such synchronous interaction include the virtual environments known as MUDs and MOOs (Multi-User Dimensions and MUD Object-Oriented).

Encouraging participation

As with any conversation, online communication needs participants; without continuing exchange, conversation falters and dies out. This may occur in a course discussion area for a number of reasons:

• No community. Classroom dynamics play a large part in the success of online discussion — if there is little exchange in the classroom, there isn't likely to be much online. It is important to build community in class if you want online discussion to flourish.
• No motivation. If you give too little weight to discussion, students may not bother to participate. Make sure they know that online discussion is essential to your teaching method and that you expect them to participate.
• Unfamiliarity. Students new to online discussions may not participate because they are unfamiliar with the technology. Spend class time showing your students how to use the discussion area — how to read submissions and post comments.

Here are some methods for encouraging participation:

• Participate. Online discussions can fail because the instructor is not involved or because he or she is involved. This factor depends on the dynamic that exists among the students in the class, between the students and the instructor, and the subject matter. Ask your students which they prefer, participation or no participation from the instructor. Decide whether you want an area where students discuss class topics freely or with the knowledge that they are participating for your approval. Trial and error may be the only method of discovering the appropriate level of participation.
• Give credit. Encourage online discussion by offering course credit to those who are active participants in the course discussion area. A reward may provide the incentive needed to get the ball rolling.
• Allow anonymity. If you find students are not participating, allow students to contribute using a pseudonym. Students may find it easier to discuss sensitive topics using an alias. Be sure they reveal their pseudonym to you at some time during the course so that you can reward their participation.
• Restrict access. Students may feel more at ease taking part in online conversation and exchange if they know that their contributions can be viewed only by the instructor and fellow classmates.
• Encourage collaboration. Create assignments that require students to collaborate online. Have students meet together online in small groups to discuss a topic, or use the site for coursework critiques and roundtable discussions.
• Be realistic. Keep your expectations for online participation consistent with the subject you are teaching. If the subject of your course is not one that provokes much face-to-face discussion, don't expect your Web site to be abuzz with conversation.

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Last update 8 September 2003