August 13, 2024
This strategy demonstrates the student learning experience value-add by replacing some of the traditional assignments with online asynchronous discussion boards in the face-to-face classroom.
July 10, 2024
Online discussion forums provide students an opportunity to engage with one another and with their instructors on topics relevant to the course. They can be effective in creating community and can reassure students that their contributions to the class are of value. Additionally, they provide a space in which students can be experts, sharing their…
March 5, 2020
Description The digital powerups strategy provides an innovative way for instructors to engage students in higher-order online discussion by humanizing and personalizing the discussion. This strategy should be used to allow students to engage in online discussions in relevant and authentic ways. Online discussions can “allow students to participate actively and interact with students and…
December 4, 2018
Online discussion boards offer students an opportunity to engage with their peers and instructor in a course outside of the classroom. The discussion boards are often used to replicate a classroom discussion and have many positive benefits. It is relatively straightforward to setup and facilitate online discussions where students weigh in on a certain topic,…
October 27, 2017
Description As faculty, we are always trying to both stimulate student engagement and assess learning. One method for increasing student engagement that has been gaining in popularity is engaging students in role play activities. These activities can vary in scale from large, multi-day events (such as Reacting to the Past) to smaller activities contained within…
October 21, 2016
Description One of the major challenges in higher education is for students to find relevance and value in the content they are learning in the classroom (Ambrose, 2010). This extends to the online discussion, where students sometimes do not see the value in actively participating the discussion and do the bare minimum to complete the…
April 16, 2015
Supporting college students to develop critical thinking skills is an overarching goal in higher education. Students with developed critical thinking skills have the ability to evaluate their own arguments as well as others, resolve conflicts, and generate well-reasoned resolutions to complex problems (Behar-Horenstein & Niu, 2011). Given that there is an exponential increase in the…
July 9, 2024
This strategy highlights the benefits of using a Complete/Incomplete, single-criteria rubric for online discussions to increase student success and reduce instructor grading.
July 3, 2023
Roleplays are an active learning technique in which students take on the roles of particular stakeholders in a situation they are learning about in order to explore a problem and consider solutions (Beckmann & Mahanty, 2016). Roleplays are commonly used in higher education to introduce students to course content in such a way that emphasizes…
June 16, 2023
Structured anchors and frameworks for discussion and reflection must be implemented to increase levels of discourse, interaction, and relationship.