Just like discussions in face-to-face settings, occasionally  you will run into one of two problems in threaded online discussions:

  1. Students won’t talk
  2. Students just swap personal opinions

If this is happening in your course, you may wish to try Conversational Moves (Brookfield, 2011). Each student will receive a move or you can provide a sample list of moves for students to self-select their own move to use. Example moves include:

  • Ask a questions or make a comment encouraging another person to elaborate on a point they’ve made. Be specific.
  • Make a comments that connects or contrasts comments made by two other students.
  • Ask a cause and effect question.
  • Summarize the discussion thus far and ask a question about the implications of the discussion for the course, assignments, or concepts.

For more conversational move ideas, see Brookfield, S. (2011). DISCUSSION AS A WAY OF TEACHING

Image Credit: JR Dingwall
Reuse License: CC BY Creative Commons By Attribution
Attribution Text: