"One concern that I often hear from faculty is the poor quality of student replies in the online discussion. Some faculty have ameliorated the issue by adding specific instructions to students in the discussion topic instructions: Anytime we can clarify our expectations to students, it is useful to do so.
Another way to help students provide better replies is to provide them with prompts that will lead them to create the type of replies we are looking for in our online courses. Here is a set of prompts I share with my students that you might find useful as is or with some adaptations. Feel free to modify at will!
Students, here are some prompts that might help you create more effective replies to your peers (you learn more) and earn you more points. For each reply, please comment on your peer's post, perhaps what you learned or found interesting, and then add new information to the conversation. Here are some prompts that might be helpful in directing your replies.
First, summarize your peer’s post
- I appreciated how you explained … because I learned…
Then, transition to what you will add to the conversation
- What I found really interesting about what you said ...
- And, I think that we also need to consider…
- Another important question we need to think about is…
- What this means is …
- That makes me think of …
- I am confused about …, what I know is … and I would like help …
- While you said…, I disagree because…"
(Source: Beth René Roepnack)
For more tips, see Online Course Communication Tips
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