Fostering Interactive Discussions Brian Newberry 1

This Presentation Will: Topic Introduction For the Purposes of the Session, a Discussion Is a Course Activity Where Two or More People Exchange Ideas and/or Information This Presentation Will: Review Some of the Literature Related to the Topic Review Some Reasons for Using Discussions Present Suggestions for Increasing the Success of Discussions 2

Literature Review Daft, R. L., & Lengel, R. H. (1984). Information richness: A new approach to managerial behavior and organizational design. Research in Organizational Behavior, 6, 191-233. Moore, M. G. (1989). Three types of interaction. The American Journal of Distance Education, 3(2), 1-6. Short, J. Williams, E. & Christie, B. (1976) The social psychology of telecommunications. London: Wiley. Tiene, D. (2000). Online discussions: A survey of advantages and disadvantages compared to face-to-face discussions. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 9(4), 369-382. Trevino, L., Lengel R., & Daft, R. (1987). Media symbolism, media richness, and media choice in organizations. Communications Research, 14(5), 553-574. Weiss, R. (2000). Humanizing the Online Classroom. New Directions for Teaching Learning; Winter 2000 Issue 84, p47-51. 3

Expert Commentary: Purposes for Discussions Student to Student Interaction Reduce Anxiety or Feelings of Social Isolation Icebreaker/introduction Reduce Instructor Workload Divide Large Classes Into Separate Discussion Groups. Have a Designated Member of Each Group Write an Executive Summary Student to Instructor Interaction Increase Instructor Immediacy/Presence Guidance and Motivation Student to Content Interaction Sharing of Perspective Developing Shared Vocabulary Collaboration Peer Review Chapter Summaries/discussion Questions Literature Reviews Debates Case Studies 4

Expert Commentary: Promoting Discussion Make Discussions a Graded Activity Instructor Presence Is Important, Use Both Recognition and Shaping of Students Contributions Model Appropriate Discussion Behavior Communicate Expectations Clearly Promote Early Engagement, Procrastination Is a Big Issue With Online Interaction Show Students How to Project Themselves Into the Communication (Emoticons, Parenthetical Comments, Etc.) 5

Conclusion And Questions Interaction Instructor Presence Modeling and Shaping Choose Appropriate Technology 6

Fostering Interactive Discussions Brian Newberry newberry@csusb.edu 7