1. DISCUSSION PATTERNS ONLINE Lenny Shedletsky
TEACHER AND TA INFLUENCE ON UNDERGRADUATE DISCUSSION

2. TEACHER (or TA) INVOLVED What do you notice for a pattern?

3. WITH TEACHER (or TA) INVOLVED
Students respond to the teacher (or TA);
The teacher (or TA) responds to the student;
The students rarely respond to one another;

4. WITHOUT TEACHER INVOLVEMENT What do you notice for a pattern?

5. HERE IS WHAT I NOTICE
Without teacher involvement in the discussion, students either post and flee—i.e., no interaction, or:
They occasionally respond to one another;
Look at students responding to one another;
Look at students post but do not respond to each other—where there are 2 posts, it is the teacher responding;

6. STUDENTS POST IN PARALLEL— they each post and flee
Every post with more than 1 total post is the teacher responding

7. HERE ARE 2 PATTERNS THAT TEACHERS COMPLAIN ABOUT
TEACHER RESPONDS TO STUDENT & STUDENT RESPONDS TO TEACHER
POST and FLEE
  Another unsuccessful silence exercise... Amanda Munroe 5/23/08 9:59 PM
    Most Unfortunate Groupthink Kevin Benjamin 6/10/08 3:13 PM
RE:Most Unfortunate Groupthink Leonard Shedletsky 6/11/08 8
RE: Most Unfortunate Groupthink Kevin Benjamin /12/08 5:03 PM

8. WITHOUT THE TEACHER (or TA)
GO BACK

9. SO WHAT IS A TEACHER TO DO?
I suppose if you wish to have a Socratic dialogue, engage the individual;
If you wish to have students engage one another, stay out of it, although, if the topic matters enough to them, they will get in, even with the teacher involved;
When do students engage one another?
An educated hunch is:
When they are moved by topics that matter to them;
When they need one another to complete an assignment;
When they are not following the rule, “I must respond to the person with more power and status.”