0.4 Discussion

Ed reported that the students challenged each other’s opinions within the discussion board use. This exemplifies evaluation, one of the signatures of higher-level thinking on Bloom’s taxonomy of learning ( Bloom, 1984 ).

Miller was much more prescriptive in her instructions to students using the discussion board. She included in her syllabus a detailed rubric spelling out exactly how the students should post an essay and comment to one other student in the class. She recommended that each time they commented on a fellow student’s work, they should choose a different student. Miller wanted to ensure that the discussion board activities enabled the students to learn from each other. It gave them the opportunity “to address arguments of students across the class over the course of the semester,” and promoted the development of close relationships.

Miller never posted her comments to the discussion board, but chose instead to respond to them in writing. “I don’t want it to be public. I often challenge their thinking and their opinions.” Clearly, Miller did not want to embarrass students by challenging the students in front of their peers. But receiving individual responses, the students were not able to reap the benefit from Miller’s collective comments or her responses to other individuals.

In the area of assessment, Ken had developed a very streamlined way of responding to student postings on the discussion board. He had become very familiar with distance learning and online discussions while earning two of his advanced degrees. Ken felt the most helpful aspect of Online Day was the discussion board, where students could post their three-page reflective essays and comment on each other’s work. Ken’s technique for responding to the students’ essays without becoming overwhelmed was to comment on one aspect of each discussion to the whole group, which stimulated further discussion.

All three instructors who used the discussion board reported high levels of student satisfaction with the course. Each reported seeing trust develop between students over the semester. Miller and Ken noticed a definite improvement in the students’ writing skills over the term. Each required the students to post frequently, and to comment on other students’ writings. Ken saw the students develop their individual voices online, and noticed how the students’ writing became less formal and more personal as they opened up and shared their experience. Miller stated that in her hybrid course, the students showed more confidence in class discussions as the term progressed, which she attributed to their experience of defending their positions on the discussion board. Ed was pleased with the students’ confidence and trust growing to the point that they were comfortable challenging each others’ ideas.

Barriers

The instructors faced a variety of barriers to adopting Online Day ranging from the software design, their lack of skills in using technology, and their lack of experience integrating technology into their teaching to student’s lack of technology skills and access to computers and high-speed Internet.