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Successful Online Discussion and Collaboration: Techniques for Design and Facilitation
PROCEEDINGS

, University of Rochester, United States ; , Lesley University, United States

Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference, in Nashville, Tennessee, USA ISBN 978-1-880094-44-0 Publisher: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), Waynesville, NC USA

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Abstract

Whether you are teaching an online class or incorporating online components in your face to face class, you are faced with the challenge of facilitating online interactions and fostering online collaboration. This full paper session provides suggestions for increasing student involvement, focusing the dialogue, and fostering an online learning community. Techniques are drawn from the literature on asynchronous learning and from the presenters' experience with online discussion and collaborative online projects.

Our starting point is an examination of the differences between face-to-face and online communication. Aspects include a discussion of the spoken word vs. the written word; asynchronous vs. synchronous communication; and the advantages of asynchronous interaction.

With asynchronous interaction in mind, how can the instructor facilitate online discussion? The literature and our experience show that fewer, but carefully constructed, instructor interventions can be effective in promoting thoughtful and thought provoking contributions by students.

Creating a safe and challenging online community includes structuring student accountability. This includes requiring participation and monitoring the quantity, frequency, and content of student contributions. Guidelines for effective contributions are discussed. These include strategies for motivating inquiry with thought provoking questions, intervening effectively in group discussions, supporting individual students, and addressing a variety of learning styles.

Collaborative online projects are another aspect of online learning that benefit from careful design, student accountability, and effective instructor intervention. Suggestions for the design of online activities include logistics (such as grouping students), the roles of students in groups, checkpoints to insure quality and timeliness of student contributions, and options that allow for joint and individual products.

Additional organizational suggestions are offered to accommodate tangential but important discussions that the instructor needs to facilitate. These include a discussion area where technical problems are addressed, one for questions about class assignments, and one for social interaction.

Commercial tools for course development provide features to help instructors monitor discussion and guide collaboration. These include the ability to search, sort, and analyze student participation in threaded discussion. Available data can increase the level of understanding of the class as a whole. Additionally, the ability to create both public and private discussion areas allows the instructor to support groups of students and the individual student.

The full paper session concludes with a summary of the techniques that participants can use for facilitating online discussions and guiding online collaborative projects.

Citation

Collier, C. & Yoder, M. (2002). Successful Online Discussion and Collaboration: Techniques for Design and Facilitation. In D. Willis, J. Price & N. Davis (Eds.), Proceedings of SITE 2002--Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 2351-2355). Nashville, Tennessee, USA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved August 31, 2024 from .

Keywords

References

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