1. Laura Taylor, Math Instructor Cape Fear Community College Valerie Melvin, Math Instructor Cape Fear Community College Discussion Forums for Online Math Classes

2. Encourages student to student interaction. Allows online students to have a classroom feel. Teaches students important communication skills for online community. Allows you to keep the “pulse” of the class. Meets Quality Matters online course standards. Why use the discussion forums?

3. Moodle Blackboard/Pearson Google Docs Edmodo What we have tried

4. More individual control Time feature allows you to block posting for up to 24 hours Email notification for posts You can make smaller groups You can upload files to your post Time Stamped Professional Free Students must log into Moodle to post Not an easy interface Cannot embed in other LMS Cons Pros Moodle

5. No email notification Clunky feel Can’t Change where in the course it’s embedded Cons Time Stamped Can use attachments Professional Pros Blackboard/Pearson

6. Easy to use Free Freedom of design and organization Not time stamped/can have anonymous postings No email notification Not very professional Cons Pros Google Docs

7. Facebook Feel Free Public schools use this You need ANOTHER user name and password No email notification Cannot embed in course Cons Pros Edmodo

8. What do you want them to get out of it? How will it be graded? What will it be worth? Do students have basic netiquette skills? What kind of forum will it be? (teacher lead, or student lead) Quantity or Quality? Some questions to ask before setting up a discussion forum

9. MAT 172 and MAT 143 have different needs. Relevant posts for 143/152 (scour the papers) Homework Help for 171-272 Not all discussions are created equally Tips for effective discussion topics

10. Be careful what you wish for…too many postings to keep up with Not all questions can have unique answers Starting mid stream gives lack luster results Extra credit is a HUGE motivator How strict are you going to be with ‘text type’ LOL  Lessons we learned the hard way (and are still learning)

11. Discussions about labs then submit final lab as a group Characteristics of a great online student or poor online student Tie discussions to student learning outcomes Doctopus app with Google docs Presentation Discussion Points