DISCUS: A WWW Discussion Board for the Electronic Classroom Dr. William F. Polik Kevin W. Paulisse Hope College, Holland, Michigan

Discus Discussion Board

The “Electronic Classroom” Organize static course information (syllabus, keys to old exams) Post course announcements without updating WWW pages Students discuss homework problems, assignments, exams, etc. Faculty (and students) respond to student questions

User Interface

Key User Interface Features Available from anywhere using any browser (including Netscape, IE, Lynx) Formatting, symbols, tables, graphics, and hyperlinks without HTML Messages in a discussion stored on one page, allowing efficient navigation Posting limited to students in the class

Administrative Tools

Key Administrative Features Entirely browser-based (no HTML, FTP, or unix knowledge necessary) Permissions levels: superuser, moderator, user, public Delete, move, edit, reorder, rename, add topics, subtopics, and messages Electronic input of class lists

Discus vs. Older Technology E-mail distribution lists (listserver) Newsgroups Static WWW Pages Real-time Chat

Discus vs. Other Programs Most powerful administrative tools Formatting, table, and image upload E-mail notification Messages on the same page Limit posting to class members Organize static course information

Ideas for Using Discus Course information & announcements Create class lists (biographies, photos) Respond to common questions Group assignments, result sharing Student discussion of assigned reading Student-created homework keys ChemBoard: Physical Chemistry II ChemBoard: Elementary teachers: Who we are ChemBoard: Inorganic: Discussion ChemBoard: P-Chem II: Expts: Abs. Spectra ChemBoard: P-Chem II: Discussion: Q. Dots ChemBoard: P-Chem II: HW: HW Set 8

Why Use Discus? Allow students to participate from anywhere at any time Include students who prefer to communicate electronically Allow entire class to benefit from individual discussions It is easy to set up and maintain

Acknowledgments Howard Hughes Medical Foundation (Faculty Development Grant) National Science Foundation Hope College Department of Computing and Information Technology

More Information Discus Home Page: http://www.chem.hope.edu/discus ChemBoard: http://www.chem.hope.edu/chemboard