Keeping the discussion going in an online forum

Threaded discussions are the heart of an online course. The discussion board is where students and faculty can interact, share experiences, and learn new concepts, all from the comfort of their own homes or offices. There are rules for how to conduct oneself in a threaded discussion that will ensure civil discourse and effective use of time. People take online classes because they are convenient, not because they want to spend hours digging through sometimes inane discussion threads. Following the simple rules below will keep the discussion academic, yet interesting enough to bring the participants back again and again.

1. There are no bad ideas. When participating in an academic online discussion, everyone needs to agree that all comments are serious, professional, and posted in good faith. Even if the participants do not agree, they still need to remember that the discussions are to be kept at a professional, not personal level. Attacking a person because of his or her beliefs is not the proper way to handle disagreements, either online or in a face-to-face classroom. Disagreement is not only expected, it is welcome as a way to open the discussion to other options. Academic freedom to state reasoned arguments applies online, as it does in a classroom.

2. Share the topic. Sometimes a student will want to initially provide an all-encompassing complete answer to a question. This does not allow the other students to make worthy contributions to the topic, however, so while it is important to state the answer; do not hog the whole topic. Give fellow students a chance to answer other facets in order to build a dialogue. Give everyone the chance to participate and help guild that discussion by sharing ideas and responding to each other.  

3. Treat other participants with dignity and respect. No matter how you feel about the topic and what your opinion of your classmates’ responses is, do not forget that everyone in the discussion is entitled to respect. And never, under any circumstance, use all capital letters to respond to a post in an online discussion. In Internet etiquette, putting everything in capital letters online constitutes yelling (UNDERSTAND?!?!?).

4. Keep postings to the forum focused on the issue at hand. Monitor the discussion to make sure the participants stay on topic. Have a thread or forum set up for general chatting and when the main discussion starts to get away from the topic, gently guide the students to the chat forum, reminding them that the content discussion needs to remain on the content while other off-topic discussions can move over into the chat forum.

5. Keep postings to a reasonable length. Students will not want to spend a lot of time reading lengthy posts. Make your point quickly and clearly. Use critical thinking skills, reflect on the topic, and determine what an appropriate response is, then post it. Because an online discussion takes place asynchronously, there is time to think before responding.

6. Be careful when using acronyms (i.e., USR, QTB), slang, and technical terms. Not everyone will know what the acronym stands for or will be familiar with technical terms so be sure to either not use them at all or explain them when you do use them.