I have been running and participating a number of online and blended courses. Every time we have offered a "Discussion Forum" on "Genreal Topics" , which seldom has created any discussion. People have rather been using email for posting, and little discussion has been going on.
On some special discussion topics we have got a few more responses, but sometimes a good posting from a student has been ignored (!) by instructors and never been replied. Or it has been mainly the same two three people using the discussion forum, the others only reading the postings if even that.
I agree with Vesa. Probably we shared some negative experiences.
One problem is to decide if new comments generate an email for each course participant or not. If yes, the frequency of them will determine if they are paid attention or deleted without reading. If no, it is too cumbersome to log in just to see if anybody replied.
The main disadvantage of forums is their accessibility and easy use. We are comfortable with email and normally refuse more "distractions".
Other disadvantage is that most postings are only interesting for one or two in the group.
Well... the problem might be solved by mailing only part of the message, mentioning that the full message is available on the forum 
. I believe that if e-mail is not sent, participants won't be stimulated to access the forum...
About participating at forum debates... I've never seen more than a third of the participants posting... Maybe a team of "entertainers" might be successfull when no action is going on, just to stimulate debates!
Vesa also mentioned about a good posting of a student being ignored by the intructor - well... if it was good, the other students wouldn't pass and develop something - in this case the instructor should take advantage by intervention or keeping silence (devilish, isn't it?)...
If the posting wasn't good - well... the lack of intervention from the instructor might create a chain reaction.
. I believe that if e-mail is not sent, participants won't be stimulated to access the forum... About participating at forum debates... I've never seen more than a third of the participants posting... Maybe a team of "entertainers" might be successfull when no action is going on, just to stimulate debates!
Vesa also mentioned about a good posting of a student being ignored by the intructor - well... if it was good, the other students wouldn't pass and develop something - in this case the instructor should take advantage by intervention or keeping silence (devilish, isn't it?)...
If the posting wasn't good - well... the lack of intervention from the instructor might create a chain reaction.
My experience with discussion forums has been “mostly” good. I say “mostly” because I am considering university instructional forums (as lecturer and moderator) and project discussion forums (as participant) altogether. When considering them separately, things change!
I find university instructional forums great! At the beginning of a course I usually observe the same rates of participation as mentioned by Paul - about a third of the students writing and a lot more students just reading the discussions. This may reflect a lack of interest, time or confidence. As the courses I teach are quite long (about nine months long) I have plenty of time to try and help students to achieve some confidence to participate more actively in the forums and also to try to make the forums more interesting.
With respect to project discussions, I haven’t been that lucky yet ☹. It may be because people are too busy and, like Prieto said, refuse more “distractions”. At the moment, if I really need to start a discussion, I use group emails.
I find university instructional forums great! At the beginning of a course I usually observe the same rates of participation as mentioned by Paul - about a third of the students writing and a lot more students just reading the discussions. This may reflect a lack of interest, time or confidence. As the courses I teach are quite long (about nine months long) I have plenty of time to try and help students to achieve some confidence to participate more actively in the forums and also to try to make the forums more interesting.
With respect to project discussions, I haven’t been that lucky yet ☹. It may be because people are too busy and, like Prieto said, refuse more “distractions”. At the moment, if I really need to start a discussion, I use group emails.
I think Pat said we should not post more than once at this stage, but I'll take the risk of losing his chocolate bribe next time when I meet him!
What Lu said about lengthy courses is something I think makes a difference - the people I know have warmed up slowly, but after some weeks something starts happening.
What Lu said about lengthy courses is something I think makes a difference - the people I know have warmed up slowly, but after some weeks something starts happening.
I am responsible for Met.no's moodle-site and strongly encourage the use of discussion forums. As for general discussion forums, my experience is that this isn't very interesting and posts are quickly forgotten.
I believe that forums should be specific as possible (much like this one!), and related to some other activity such as a lesson or other specific learning activity. Posts are then interesting in a certain context and may probably not lose validity over time, as opposed to a general forum. In a way, posts to a forum, just like any other piece of information, has an "expiration date".
Also, forums should always have some connection to e-mail, either just a notification of a new post, or including some of the post itself.
PS! Good idea to make a copy of a post BEFORE pressing "post to forum".... the website hung and the post dissappeared!
I believe that forums should be specific as possible (much like this one!), and related to some other activity such as a lesson or other specific learning activity. Posts are then interesting in a certain context and may probably not lose validity over time, as opposed to a general forum. In a way, posts to a forum, just like any other piece of information, has an "expiration date".
Also, forums should always have some connection to e-mail, either just a notification of a new post, or including some of the post itself.
PS! Good idea to make a copy of a post BEFORE pressing "post to forum".... the website hung and the post dissappeared!
Hi All
Great points.. my experiences have been both good and bad.. I have experience with the VisitView Focal group discuss group and the Caribbean Weather Discussion group. Truth be told the VisitView was born here at CIMH under Mr. Horace Burton and Selvin Burton to enhance exchange of knowledge among the Caribbean territories in 2003. It started okay but suffered from the lack of participation .. participants would join but say nothing. But with teh introduction of more Latin American participants and having lead discussion from the Tropical Desk have helped.. The good .... The Caribbean Weather Discussion was started to highlight events during the Hurricane season this work well at first as well but of late this has suffered from lack of attendance.
The problem with these discussion groups is that they are targeting Operational Forecast Offices .. and no - one appears committed to attend.
I will agree with Lu that the university and class assigned discussion are usually better in terms on participation.
I agree with Erik that the specific POSTs may be a good tactic..
Kathy-Ann
Great points.. my experiences have been both good and bad.. I have experience with the VisitView Focal group discuss group and the Caribbean Weather Discussion group. Truth be told the VisitView was born here at CIMH under Mr. Horace Burton and Selvin Burton to enhance exchange of knowledge among the Caribbean territories in 2003. It started okay but suffered from the lack of participation .. participants would join but say nothing. But with teh introduction of more Latin American participants and having lead discussion from the Tropical Desk have helped.. The good .... The Caribbean Weather Discussion was started to highlight events during the Hurricane season this work well at first as well but of late this has suffered from lack of attendance.
The problem with these discussion groups is that they are targeting Operational Forecast Offices .. and no - one appears committed to attend.
I will agree with Lu that the university and class assigned discussion are usually better in terms on participation.
I agree with Erik that the specific POSTs may be a good tactic..
Kathy-Ann
Here at the Bureau of Meteorology in Australia I used discussion forums two years running in a tropical meteorology class. The second year it failed as the point was vague and my colleague who was meant to take over from me in monitoring it did not do so. Students were asked to discuss feature observed relevant to lectures. This was not taken up, especially as the fact it was worth marks was not stressed but it there was no sharp focus and hence no initiative. Also it is hard when the students could not attach images with Moodle other than links which were not permanent.
The first year was more successful with the following caveat - inter-group dynamics. The exercise was a weekly chart discussion where students were split into teams. In one room this was taken to with students doing far more than the bare minimum and there was a fair amount of interaction. In the other room there was very little interaction.
This year since I am otherwise occupied we are not doing it, but I'd like to carry it on in future years. Issues for me then are:
The first year was more successful with the following caveat - inter-group dynamics. The exercise was a weekly chart discussion where students were split into teams. In one room this was taken to with students doing far more than the bare minimum and there was a fair amount of interaction. In the other room there was very little interaction.
This year since I am otherwise occupied we are not doing it, but I'd like to carry it on in future years. Issues for me then are:
- Encouraging interaction with a definite task of finite duration
- Encouraging student initiative
- Marking - peer review was used in the first year but students systematically overmarked compared to what I considered sufficient effort and participation.
In recent years I participated in a distance education course on education and training (including topics on on-line education). All of the subjects included on-line discussion forums. Some were just an added extra, and not really integrated into the learning program, while in other subjects, contributing to the discussions was made compulsory.
I found that when the discussions were an optional extra they just became chat rooms, which seemed to be appreciated by a few people who seemed to have hours of time to spend chatting about peripheral issues on-line. I found this annoying, since I felt I needed to at least check through them all to see if there was anything of relevance to me (rarely the case!), and not having this chatty sort of personality myself, I rarely had anything to contribute. In these cases, I found the discussions almost useless for my learning.
When the discussion was integrated fully into the course, and when the teacher also provided comments and encouragement, I found them more useful. The posts then were mainly on the topic of the course, and although not all so relevant to what I was working on myself, at least were worth taking the time to read. Having to put ideas down and getting feedback on them was useful. The main problem was the time delay in making comments and getting replies, but when people are studying part time while working full-time jobs, that is inevitable.
Having well structured discussion forums in this course was definitely better than just reading a lot of papers and textbooks and writing essays, which was the case with some of the subjects (even though that is my preferred learning style).
Philip Riley
PS - my apologies for being late in joining in this discussion
I found that when the discussions were an optional extra they just became chat rooms, which seemed to be appreciated by a few people who seemed to have hours of time to spend chatting about peripheral issues on-line. I found this annoying, since I felt I needed to at least check through them all to see if there was anything of relevance to me (rarely the case!), and not having this chatty sort of personality myself, I rarely had anything to contribute. In these cases, I found the discussions almost useless for my learning.
When the discussion was integrated fully into the course, and when the teacher also provided comments and encouragement, I found them more useful. The posts then were mainly on the topic of the course, and although not all so relevant to what I was working on myself, at least were worth taking the time to read. Having to put ideas down and getting feedback on them was useful. The main problem was the time delay in making comments and getting replies, but when people are studying part time while working full-time jobs, that is inevitable.
Having well structured discussion forums in this course was definitely better than just reading a lot of papers and textbooks and writing essays, which was the case with some of the subjects (even though that is my preferred learning style).
Philip Riley
PS - my apologies for being late in joining in this discussion
Thanks for adding this significant example of how focused, integral discussions directly related to the instructional content are more likely to develop into useful learning activities. It reinforces what others have said, but with some additional detail. Thanks for joining!