By Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
Do you ever have the feeling that learners not really "listening" to each other in the discussion area? Do they seem to either fail to read or ignore Do you ever feel as though they are simply posting what they think the instructor wants to read?
Designing Discussion Boards to Maximize Engagement
The design of the discussion board is very important if your goal is to overcome learners' initial hesitancy and to inspire students to participate with each other in a substantive way with meaningful interaction. Although there may be little that you can do to customize the look and feel of the discussion board, there are definitely ways to create a friendly, welcoming space. Here are a few suggestions:
1. Make sure that the first post or discussion thread is a friendly introduction space that encourages learners to share their interests and goals. It is good to encourage students to post photos of pets or relevant hobbies or activities that will encourage bonding with other students.
2. Make sure that your tone is friendly and welcoming. Avoid a cold, harsh, or punitive tone.
3. Get to know your students and try to gain an understanding of their backgrounds, interests, and values. This is a way to avoid potentially offensive topics, icons, or threads.
Recent research (Nisbett, et. al, 2001) suggests that individuals who have the same ethnic or national background respond to visual cues and online directions in similar ways. In addition, they are (not surprisingly) likely to respond to each other in a positive way when they determine points of contact or reference. Keeping this in mind, one can employ graphics that are familiar to the entire group, and which could be motivating. For example, one could use the college mascot to deliver perky, happy, motivating messages. "Go GATORS!" could be used for University of Florida-identified groups. Needless to say, this could be demotivating for individuals who hate the Gators.
Focusing Attention
Developmental psychologists (Piaget and others) have long maintained that mothers teach infants which visual stimuli to respond to and which cues to ignore by cuing the infant and focusing their gaze on the item that matters. They are, in essence, directed and guided, thus taught how to focus their attention, and what matters. The online facilitator can implement the same strategy by calling attention to a positive concept even worthy of emulation.
The instructor models positive behavior in the discussion board, as well as demonstrating what constitutes an ideal response to a desired action. When individuals see a person in authority behave in a certain way, they are likely to emulate that behavior (Bandura, 1961). Thus, when a student posts an excellent observation, the facilitator can call attention to it, describe what is positive about it, and encourage emulatory action.
Engaging Students
Perhaps the best way to inspire student to listen, respond, and truly engage themselves in the discussion area is to simultaneously make them care, and to reward them when they demonstrate that they care enough to "listen" - that is, to respond to the specific thoughts, comments, and responses of others, and to make substantive comments and connections to their real-life situations. In doing so, they can find points of connection and share experiences.
For example, if you're teaching a composition class, you can ask your students to write a review of a movie or a book as though they would be posting it on Amazon.com's website. However, instead of posting it to amazon.com, they can post it on the discussion board. If you require the students to respond to their fellow students' posts, and if you provide them with clear guidelines on how to be positive, and to make meaningful, connection-filled comments, you may be surprised at how engaged the students become. Further, they tend to be very supportive of each other, particularly when students have seen the same movie -- whether they liked it or not.
Understanding the Perspective of Others
In order to be willing to listen to other students, pay attention, and to share personal and meaningful information, the student must make himself or herself vulnerable. They will be unlikely to open up if they feel threatened, intimidated, or potentially shamed. Thus, it is the facilitator's responsibility to create a supportive and "safe" environment.
Developmental Psychology: Cognitive and Social Learning
To gain an appreciation of how individuals learn by means of social interaction with other people, it is helpful to look at the work of Vygotsky and others who were influenced by him. Vygotsky's Mind and Society, first published in the 1930s in the former Soviet Union, has become a pivotal work and has influenced many individuals. Mind and Society (1978) describes findings about how firmly the beliefs, attitudes, and ways of knowing are fixed in the mind of the individual who has engaged in social learning.
Further, individuals teach each other what behaviors are acceptable and what ways of knowing are "real" by providing guiding feedback and reality checks. The astute observer comes to realize that Vygotsky's social learning model involves a measure of operant conditions, a la the great behaviorist B. F. Skinner.
You learn from each other, and you learn by doing. When you get something wrong, your peers tell you, then show you the right way. In very transparent terms, this is what the theories of Vygotsky, Skinner, and others affirm. In the discussion forum, you learn by expressing your thoughts, showing what you're thinking, and then adjust and grow in response to others.
Summary
If designed and managed well, online discussion boards can be a very lively place where ideas, concepts, and work are exchanged, and where students thrive as they engage in creative problem-solving, synthesis, and other intellectual activities together.
References
Bandura, A., Ross, D, & Ross, S. (1961). Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 575-582.
Nisbett, R. E., Peng, K., & Choi, I., & Norenzayan, A. (2001). Culture and systems of thought: Holistic vs. analytic cognition. Psychological Review, 8, 291-310.
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2006. First published in 1934.
[Download the companion podcast at:
http://www.zenzebra.net/e-learners/podcasts/listening-to-each-other-in-elearning.mp3 - 11.7 MB]