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Why Participate in Discussion Forums?
Instructor/TA Feedback
What Makes a Good Post?
Types of Discussion Boards
Posting to the Discussion Boards
Grading Rubric for Weekly Discussions
Discussion Forum Etiquette

Why Participate in Discussion Forums?

Your participation in the discussion forums is critical for maximizing your learning experiences in this course. Part of the assessment criteria for the course includes evaluating the quality and quantity of your participation in the discussion forum.

Instructor/TA Feedback

The instructor or TA will facilitate student discussions, but will not address every single post. Consequently, the instructor won't directly answer questions in the discussion area unless they are addressed to him or her. Forums will be checked throughout the week.

What Makes a Good Post?

The goal is to have a dynamic discussion around the topic that lasts throughout the entire course.
Posts and responses should be thorough and thoughtful. Just posting an "I agree" or "Good ideas" will not be considered adequate. Support statements with examples, experiences, or references.
Be brief — keep each post and response to one or two short paragraphs (75-150 words). Keep in mind that fellow learners will be reading and responding to you, too.
Make certain that all posts and responses address the question, problem, or situation as presented for discussion. This does not mean you should not extend the topic, but do not stray from the topic.
Discussions occur when there is dialogue; therefore, you need to build upon the posts and responses of other learners to create discussion threads. Make sure to revisit the discussion forum and respond (if necessary) to what other learners have posted to your initial responses.
When relevant, add to the discussion by including prior knowledge, work experiences, references, web sites, resources, etc. (giving credit when appropriate).
Examples of postings that demonstrate higher levels of thinking:
- “Some common themes I see between your experiences and our textbook are….” (analysis)
- “These newer trends are significant if we consider the relationship between ….” (synthesis)
- “The body of literature should be assessed by these standards ….” (evaluation)

Types of Discussion Boards

There are a couple of types of discussion boards in this course: graded and non-graded.

Graded discussion boards are about content covered during the course. The grading rubric for these discussions is in that section below.

Non graded discussion boards include:

Posting to Discussion Boards

To post your initial response to a discussion board, simply click in the reply box located below the question. You will notice the box will then enlarge and display word editing options. When you have finished typing your response in the box, don't forget to click "Post Reply."

To respond to a classmate's post, navigate to the reply box beneath your classmate's post and type in your response.

Please Note: For places with unreliable Internet access, we recommended typing your post into a word processing application, such as Microsoft Word, and saving it. Then copy and paste the post to the discussion board.

Grading Rubric for Weekly Discussion Boards

Your posts will be graded on the following criteria. Each discussion is worth 1 point. Discussions should:

include original thought / contribution (a perspective that hasn't been previously posted)
explain your idea well (see above for what makes a good post)
respond to other students' posts

Discussion Forum Etiquette

Distance conveys a degree of anonymity, and as a result, many people feel less inhibited in online situations than in their everyday lives. This lessening of inhibitions sometimes leads people to drop their normal standards of decorum when communicating online. Become familiar with the following guidelines about discussion forum behavior.

Use appropriate language. Excessive use of “chat” or “instant messaging” jargon is not acceptable for online discussions.
Read existing follow-up postings and don’t repeat what has already been said.
Inappropriate or offensive language, especially comments that might be construed as racist or sexist, are not appropriate and will be dealt with on an individual basis.
Be careful with humor and sarcasm. One person’s humorous comment can be another person’s boorish or degrading remark.
Do not use all caps in an online environment. Using all caps is considered SHOUTING.
Remember that there are other human beings reading your postings, so treat everyone with respect. Don’t post anything you wouldn’t be willing to communicate face to face.