Obviously these on-line
discussions take the place of the discussions we normally would have in the
classroom. The wonderful advantage is that the Discussion Board is a
democratizing forum that allows everyone's voice to be heard. Each person
has an opportunity to express ideas that might normally not emerge in the
classroom out of fear or anxiety of being laughed at or
because of pure shyness. In
the online world, you can take as long as you need to compose your thoughts so
that they are clear and well-thought out. Probably you have a better
chance of expressing yourself here than even in the classroom. No one gets
to dominate a discussion and ask or answer all the questions. Most of all,
you get to "hear"--by way of reading-- what everyone is thinking.
That's what I mean by a democratizing effect. I hope you find the
discussions rewarding, enlightening, and even challenging, for we wouldn't be
learning anything if our minds weren't challenged a bit and pulled in a
different direction occasionally.
Discussion Board Directions:
- When you go to the
Blackboard Discussion Board, you will see a list of topics.
- Click on the topics that I have posted for your class that
week. Each of my initial messages I post starts a discussion
"thread." You will usually see a couple discussion threads each week.
- Click on my message to read my posting.
- Then, you must REPLY (or click QUOTE if
you want the original text to appear in your reply) to my message to stay
within the discussion thread. If you post a new message, you
will start a new thread and confuse the rest of the class, so please don't do
that. You
MUST initially REPLY to EACH of my messages before REPLYing to your classmates'
postings.
- Once you've replied to my posting, then you must reply to one
other student's posting within each thread. Reply to a posting that
strikes you as interesting, just like you would in class; you might affirm or
disagree with the posting. (One student reply per thread is the minimum, but you
may post more if you like.)
- Please read the Netiquette Guidelines
for the discussion board.
See the Orientation link for
a picture of the Blackboard Discussion Board.
Length of Postings:
Since these discussions replace what we would talk about in class and because
you have more time to formulate a thoughtful response, I do expect that your
postings are more than a quip of a sentence or two. Your postings
should fill the entire text window into which you type your thoughtful
reply. A full window of words will equal approximately 80-100 words.
Bear in mind that the point is not to sit at the screen and count words; the point is to
communicate a thoughtful response. You can feel reasonably confident that if you fill the text
box completely, you most likely have communicated what you need to. Just
keep in mind that the more you elaborate, the better chance you have at
communicating your thoughts with your classmates. And if it's not clear,
someone in class will likely reply to your posting.
Replying to Classmates:
Be in the habit of replying to different classmates throughout the semester.
Don't get in a rut and correspond to the same people each week. That's the
"safe" way to learn, but it's also a boring way to learn. You will
probably find that students tend to reply to messages that are carefully thought
out, not ones that are one-liners. So if you're feeling like no one ever
replies to you, raise the bar for yourself and write something that will provoke
the class to think harder or in a different way. Get them to pay attention
to your ideas, but within the boundaries of human civility. Also be sure
you've read the page on On-line Netiquette.
Grading:
You have from Sunday through midnight
Wednesday to complete
your initial
postings. Replies/commentaries to classmates must be completed by
midnight Saturday. I record all of your work done within that week.
Then I lock the discussion topic and move on to the next week. If you do
not complete your postings within the 7-day period, you do not earn the points
for that week. |
