Optimizing the Use of Discussion Board Forums Jim Flowers & Sam Cotton Department of Technology

Agenda: Discussion Board Forums Organizing options for forums Setup Options Strategies & Tips Research Results Assessment Blackboard 7?

Discussion Board Forums Private for those in Bb course Mostly text-based AsynchronousThreadedMonitored Can include attachments

Who here uses a Bb forum?

Purposes of Forums Social (ice-breakers, community-building) Managerial or organizational Providing instruction Submitting results of activities Class discussion activities TeamworkOther

Type of Class Online Face-to-Face (F2F), Technology-aided) Hybrid or Blended (of online and F2F) Non-class situations

Required or Optional Participation? Required –Assessment vehicle –Promotes participation –Other Optional –To reduce stress and promote authentic interaction or creative thought –For optional material (remedial or enriching) –For social reasons

Bb 6 Forum Setup

Quantity of forums and participants?

Location or Order

Class or Group

Title, Number, and Description

Instructions

Starter Thread(s)

Forum Settings

Advanced Tools for Students Entering HTML code into a message Personalizing posts Quoting in a reply Always changing the subject line Viewing options, expanding threads, and collecting multiple messages

Options for Instructors

Tools & Strategies for Instructors Planning discussion topics (checklist) Avoiding overwhelming the discussion Responding to a thread vs. post Viewing multiple messages Grading by collecting selected messages Macro to convert content –

Try this:

Initiating Messages from Cited Sources Ask them to post a problem or issue based on literature they have reviewed.

Debates

“Will You Play a Question Game?”

Roles Be a historical figure Organizational roles Cognitive roles Cooperative teams

Local Research Results Cooperative vs. collaborative –Rose, M.A. (2004). Comparing productive online dialogue in two group styles: Cooperative and collaborative. The American Journal of Distance Education, 18(2), Available online from Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Online at The American Journal of Distance Education, 18(2), American Journal of Distance Education, 18(2), Cognitive Role Assignment –Rose, M.A. & Flowers, J. (2003). Assigning learning roles to promote critical discussions during problem-based learning. Paper presented at the 19th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning, Madison, WI. Retrieved July 7, 2004, from

Methods of Assessment Who performs the assessment? Quantitative –Quantity –Frequency Qualitative Rubric / Criteria for discussions, e.g.: –

Category 1: Questions Posing a question relative to the current topic that will further the person's understanding or ability to apply skills to the assignment, if answered. –Must be related to current topic. –1 Point per question. –(Note: Multiple questions in a single post count as one item.)

Category 2: Information Offering an unsolicited observation, piece of advice, pertinent past experience, or other helpful information that could benefit other participants. (Requires some depth of thought, normally requiring three or more sentences.) –Must be related to current topic. –1 Point per item. –Note: Items of less than 3 sentences will normally achieve 0.5 (1/2) point.

Category 3: Simple Response Responding or reacting to another participants question or statement and offering useful information directly related to the question posed. Useful but brief response of three (3) to seven (7) sentences. –Must be related to current topic. –1 Point per item. –Note: Items of less than 3 sentences will normally achieve 0.5 (1/2) point.

Category 4: In-Depth Response Responding or reacting to another participants question or statement and offering useful information directly related to the question posed. Useful in depth response normally of eight (8)or more non-repetitive complex sentences. (Sentences of only a few words do not apply in most counts.) –Must be related to current topic. –2 Points per item.

More Local Research Results: What about student self-assessment? –Flowers, J., & Cotton, S. (In Press.) Impacts of Student categorization of their online discussion contributions. American J. of Distance Education, 22(2).

Some Changes to Forums in Bb 7 Instructor’s Manual from Blackboard.com: – ter/docs/details.Bb?DocumentID=1660&Produ ctID=10000&DocumentType=ID ter/docs/details.Bb?DocumentID=1660&Produ ctID=10000&DocumentType=IDhttps://behind.blackboard.com/s/faculty/refcen ter/docs/details.Bb?DocumentID=1660&Produ ctID=10000&DocumentType=ID

Copying Forums “ ” (p. 162) “The process of creating a clone of a forum or the forum settings in the same discussion board or in another discussion board in the same course or organization.” (p. 162)

Thread Status Published: A published thread is available to users. Locked: Users may read the thread but not make any additions or modifications. Locking a thread allows Grades to be assigned without users updating or changing posts. Unlocked: Unlocking a thread allows users to modify and add to the thread. Hidden: Hidden threads do not display unless the user chooses. Hidden threads may not be modified. Hidden threads may not be modified. Hiding threads removes outdated threads and makes relevant content easier to find. Unavailable: Unavailable threads are only visible to forum managers. Even then, forum managers must choose to view these threads. Making threads unavailable means that users can no longer view the thread.” (p. 163) “The Forum Manager can change the status of a thread to one of the following:

Searching & Collecting “ ” (p. 163) “A search function appears at the top of the page throughout the Discussion Board. The search includes a keyword field, date restrictions, and options for where to search.” (p. 163)

Rating Posts For “Peer Review” For other purposes “ ” (p. 170) “Users can respond to a post using a 5-star rating system.” (p. 170) Averages are displayed.

Subscribe “ ” (p. 165) “Receive an alert when a post is updated or a user posts a reply.” (p. 165)

Moderate Posts (optionally) “ ” (p. 171) “Moderating posts requires that all posts are reviewed by a responsible party before the content is shared with the class.” (p. 171) The “Moderator” may be a different individual than the “Manager” (instructor), or the “Grader.”

Grading Forums and Threads “ ” (p. 168) “The Instructor has the option to grade Students at the forum level or at the thread level.” (p. 168)

New Forum Settings

Publish Now, or Save Unpublished “” (p. 162) but not yet published. “A post that has been saved for future editing” (p. 162) but not yet published.

View Expanded Statistics “ “Total Posts Date of Last Post Average Post Length (number of characters) Minimum Post Length (number of characters) Maximum Post Length (number of characters) Average Post Position ” (p. 176) Grade (if the post is not yet graded, the instructor may click a link to the Gradebook to add a grade)” (p. 176)

Instructor Archiving “Archive Course creates a permanent record of a course including all the content and user interactions. Archived courses are saved as.zip files. Archiving a course does not remove it from the system.” (p. 217)

Conclusions: Evaluate and Improve Try out new features Collect forums –Analyze what students say and don’t say –Analyze instructor’s habits –Create learning objects from frequently posted instructor comments –Conduct research?

Optimizing the Use of Discussion Board Forums Jim Flowers & Sam Cotton Department of Technology