After last year’s epic fail on the discussion board front (three
students, if that, posted anything and most of that was in the wrong place) I am trying a new approach. I have looked at the various options that Blackboard Learn provides for discussion and collaboration and it is no secret that I
think the discussion boards are hideous and so unaesthetically pleasing that I
can see why no-one would want to use them. Ever!
My revolutionary approach revolves around 2 things which occurred to me after
doing some reading around the subject of student participation
a) students
probably won’t be the 1st to post so you have to do it, even if you
have no intentions of moderating the thing thereafter
b) you can’t expect
students to use something if you have not taught them how no matter how intuitive you think it is.
With that in mind I decided to use the blog function
rather than the discussion boards, mostly because they look nicer and, I think,
have a nice structure for students to use. My next big idea was to teach them how to use the things (I know - I am on a roll here) as a way of communicating with each other, sharing ideas and involving distance learners in discussions. I did this by making them post stuff while I was there to help and they seemed to get it although the best peice of feedback I had was "it was good that you told us we couldn't break it, because, you know, I was worried."
What remains to be seen on this grand plan of mine for world
domination one discussion board at a time is if it will actually work. So watch
this space.
No comments:
Post a Comment