1. HOW TO USE BULLETIN BOARDS WITH ONLINE OR ONLINE-HYBRID CLASSES TO BUILD LEARNING COMMUNITIES A WORKSHOP Maren Bradley Anderson, WOU

2. Online teaching is different from classroom teaching  Not in a classroom  Text-only communication  Asynchronous environment  There is a perceived lack of instructor/student and student/student online interaction.  Good course design can help create a sense of community specifically good discussion group facilitation.

3. Students are ready  84% of high school students use social media (Noel- Levitz)  “College students (63%) and high school seniors (69%) believe that tablets will effectively replace textbooks as we know them today within the next five years” (Pearson Foundation).  That is, they expect to be reading digital texts.

4. My online class model  I post 6-10 Discussion Questions (DQs) a week on a given topic  Students post eight 100-word posts a week  x 10 weeks = 8,000 words  Participation is mandatory  4 posts in direct response to my DQs  4 posts in reply to other students’ posts  I respond to select posts depending on what is needed

5. Components Of Online Discussion Board Design  Determining the purpose of the discussion  Designing good Discussion Questions  Facilitating techniques  Responding to students

6. Purpose of Discussion in Online Classrooms  Vygotsky said that learning is a result of participation and dialogue in a social world (McLaughlin).  Online discussions develop student dialogue by allowing students to:  explore course concepts in an informal environment with their peers  apply course material to real-life (or hypothetical) situations  dig deeper into the material by asking questions and elaborating on each other’s answers (Arends).

7. Community= higher critical thinking  Building and facilitating discussions online that actually lead to discussion  As opposed to regurgitation or demonstration of knowledge  Inquiry method of teaching  leads to a sense of community among the students  AND, according to some studies, higher critical thinking (Arends).

8. Qualities Of Good Discussion Questions, Leading To Community Of Learners (Arends)  Are open-ended  Might include at least two different and distinct solutions  Ask students to share ideas and experiences on course concepts  Allow multiple viewpoints to be expressed  Are thoughtful and thought-provoking

9. Maren’s Discussion Question Examples  What do we pay attention to when we see a play? What do we pay attention to when we read a play?  What do the ways the characters enter the stage (but before they speak) tell us about the gender roles in the play?

10. Important Facilitation Techniques  Neutral/Impartial Tone (Arends)  Not even disclosing the “right” answers  Just probing for more info/clarification  Infrequent/purposeful response (Arends)  10-20% of responses

11. Response Strategies (McLaughlin)  Questioning  Requesting reasons for beliefs held  Demonstration of criteria for judgments made  Cooperation in developing and applying problem- solving strategies

12. Maren’s Process for Picking Student Posts for Response  The “Best” answers  Corrections  Questions

14. Works Cited Arend, Bridget. "Encouraging Critical Thinking in Online Threaded Discussions." The Journal of Educators Online 6 (2009): 1-23. ERIC. Web. 8 Mar. 2012. "College Students' Social Networking." EMarketer. EDUCASE, 22 Sept. 2008. Web. 8 Mar. 2012. McLoughlin, Catherine. "Culturally Responsive Technology Use: Developing an On-line Community of Learners." British Journal of Educational Technology 30.3 (1999): 231-43. Print. Noel-Levitz. "Mobile Social Media Use among College-bound High School Students." College Student Social Media Usage Statistics on Mobile Devices. Noel-Levitz, 12 Jan. 2012. Web. 8 Mar. 2012. "Pearson Foundation Survey on Students and Tablets." Pearson Foundation Survey on Students and Tablets. Jan. 2012. Web. 19 Mar. 2012.

15. Demos  Screencast tour of Moodle (LMS) Screencast tour of Moodle (LMS)