I find a good way to elicit participation is to give fairly structured instructions such as "in Post 1 summarize blah blah blah and suggest 3 areas to explore further and why; post 2 (due a couple of days later) respond to some one else's post 1 with detailed suggestions for their 3 areas, and post 3 (due a couple of days later) - summarize, reflect etc. It might seem a little directive but you can push the thinking in specific directions and elicit critical thinking, response and reflection by requiring them to respond accordingly. I also give group activities where they have to discuss online how to construct a resource for something we're studying and then post and discuss content. My students have told me that they like the 3 staggered deadlines idea because they know there will be something to respond to and it also stops them from making 3 fast posts without much thinking behind them. All of my discussion are in groups of 3 to 6. You can also use a rubric so that students understand that there posts should move the dialogue along, rather than repeat or reiterate.
Sally Capilano U On 03/26/13, Michael Britt <[email protected]> wrote: > I think a lot of the "success" in online threaded conversations depends in > part on what questions you ask and I was wondering what others on TIPS > thought about this. I was just looking at Ellen Langer's book, Mindful > Learning because I recalled that she addressed this issue. One of her > memorable examples was that we should not ask students, "Is it possible to > prevent pregnancy using a nasal spray?" (which would probably lead to a > response like, "Ummm...no") but rather phrase it this way, "How could we use > a nasal spray to prevent pregnancy?". > > Does anyone else know of any other resources/research on this topic of > phrasing questions in a way that really stimulates thinking? > > Michael > > Michael A. Britt, Ph.D. > [email protected] > http://www.ThePsychFiles.com > Twitter: mbritt > > > > > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13530.e96560b68b0d11e80e48fb30b5f8b01d&n=T&l=tips&o=24542 > or send a blank email to > leave-24542-13530.e96560b68b0d11e80e48fb30b5f8b...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=24543 or send a blank email to leave-24543-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
