Online discussions can be helpful as a discussion strategy for virtual learning or in a co-seated classroom environment. But, how can we facilitate these discussions using the technology that we have available?
Find out why discussion boards are a good idea to use with any sort of virtual learning as well as FIVE easy ways to implement them into your classes.
Why Chat Discussions and Not Speaking?
Discussions that are done with typing or chat features can overcome any technology hurdles your virtual students may be experiencing. For example, I have many students with a district computer that does NOT have a functioning microphone. That means that they can’t speak to anyone— not even to me. These students rely on the chat feature to be able to share their ideas and interact with their peers during class.
In and ideal world, we could simply all discuss content directly through a Zoom meeting. I navigate this anyway by having my chat box open at all times so that I can see student comments as they share them with everyone in the virtual class.
However, for convenience’s sake, discussion boards provide a written record for assessment in case there is any issue with the discussion grade given by the teacher. Whenever I have a student or parent disagree with a grade or question the assessment of the discussion, I like to be able to go back and pull up the student’s comments in the discussion to show where points were given or lost. Simply stated, written discussions help us keep our records in the chaos of virtual and co-teaching arrangements.
Discussion Board options
Discussion boards are accessible for students and help to dispel the fear and anxiety of being “heard” when our technology decides to “act up.”
As stated previously, discussion boards are easy to grade because the teacher can simply go back through and read through the class’s discussion and grade comments accordingly.
There are a few ways to implement a “discussion board” online. Here are a few user-friendly options for you and your students!
Google Classroom— Recently, I had my students complete a graded discussion through Google Classroom. I added five different questions as five separate question assignments (each question got its own entry). I notated the different questions in the title for each entry as follows: Beowulf Discussion Question #1, Beowulf Discussion Question #2, etc. Then, students responded in the comments to each question.
Google Slides— You can create a Google Slideshow in which each student is assigned to slide and responds to the questions on his/her own slide. Then, students can go back through the slides from their peers and add comments to their classmates’ responses.
Google Docs— For this option, you could create a table for each question in the discussion. Students can add a row with their name in one column and their response in the other column. This would be super easy to track for grading purposes.
Google Sheet— This is similar to the Google Doc rows. Each student gets a cell to type in. Here is what it could look like. This is also a great way to create a graffiti board or classroom collage of ideas.
Padlet - Padlet offers some different features that aren’t possible through the Google platform options. Padlet allows the teacher (or students) to organize students’ thoughts into categories! Students can even color code their thinking to help as well. Categorizing student responses can help students make connections between ideas.
Grading Online Discussion Boards
I grade online discussions the same way I would grade them if I had these students in- person. I instruct students to speak at least two times and that their grade will be assessed by their top two best comments (which implies that they should “speak” more than once in order to secure their odds of making a higher grade for the discussion). It looks a little something like this:
As I am either listening to a discussion or reading through one online, I make annotations of students’ comments on a roster check sheet.
I annotate grades in the following way:
Check (+) — Student comment answers the question, responds to classmates in an organic way, does not repeat the same points as other students in the discussion, and uses textual evidence to support analysis.
Check — Student comment answers the question; however, the answer may not respond to classmates, OR the answer repeats some of the same information as other students. Student still uses textual evidence to support response.
Check (-) — Student comment fails to answer the question, OR does not use textual evidence to support analysis. Instead, the student makes a more broad observation without a direct connection to the text with textual evidence.
This check system works quickly and efficiently to assess student comments. After the discussion, I take the top two highest-scoring comments for the grade.
Check + comments = 50 points
Check comments = 40 points
Check - comments = 30 points
With this grading system, as long as students participate at least twice, the lowest score they can receive is a 60. This nice thing about a discussion board is that students do not have to feel anxious or intimidated by speaking out loud.
You can also give a bonus point for things such as:
Posing a thought-provoking question.
Bringing the conversation back to the topic.
Making a connection.
I have found that this system works well and that it is easy for students to follow.
What other ideas do you have to share for facilitating online discussion boards?
I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
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About the Author
I am Meredith, the founder and creator of TeachWriting.org and Bespoke ELA. I have taught high school English for 10+ years in Dallas, Chicago, and New York City, and I hold a M.A. in Literature from Northwestern University. I have always had a connection to the written word-- through songwriting, screenplay writing, and essay writing-- and I enjoy the process of teaching students how to express their ideas. I enjoy life with my daughter and sweet Yorkie named Teddy.