Study Skills - Successful Online Study

Making the Discussion Forum work

Ways to make the most of a Discussion Forum:

Preparation

• Make sure you do the reading to become familiar with the topic.
• Make sure that you attempt learning activities so that you are able to participate and can ask questions about areas you don't understand well.
• Consider how the material to be discussed fits in with earlier material, and with the unit overall.

Participation

• Remember that this is a discussion forum, not a formal publication, so your contribution does not have to be polished and finished before you add it to the forum.
• Picture yourself discussing the topic with a group of friends over coffee. Your contribution should be reasonably short and to the point.
• You can contribute to the discussion forum by offering your own opinions on the topic or by commenting on someone else's.
• If someone challenges your posting, limit yourself to one "response in reply". The whole point of the discussion forum will be lost if it becomes dominated by one or two voices making multiple postings.
• Raise any questions or concerns you may have about the topic for discussion. Other students may have similar concerns.
• Share any information you find on new and helpful resources and/or relevant website's on the discussion forum.

Follow up

• Contact your tutor by email to clarify any important points you didn't understand.
• Revise and consolidate what you have learned from the discussion.
• Check your understanding of key concepts.
• Print out any postings that you find particularly relevant and paste them in your Learning Log.

Establishing Ground Rules

Effective participation in discussion forums does not mean being the one who talks the most, gets the most attention from others and manages to squash most of the other opinions offered! (Not that you would have thought that for a moment). Nor does it mean being a 'forum lurker' and never contributing, just reading what other have to say. Just as in face-to-face discussions, there are ground rules or unspoken agreements that need to be followed if the discussion forum is going to be an effective learning environment.

Reflect on the suggestions below as a useful starting point:

Suggested Ground Rules

• Avoid being dogmatic. We are all fallible. We can all make mistakes.
• Don't silence others.
• Don't be racist or sexist or ethnocentric. (This applies to people from a different class or group, people with different abilities etc.)
• Don't use coercive methods to dominate and thus silence others.
• Respect everybody's opinion.
• All claims can be challenged and they must be defended with reasons that are themselves subject to further challenge.
• Establish the relevance of your evidence to your thesis.
• Treat the offerings of others seriously.
• Clarify your meaning - define your terms.
• Be prepared to explain your assumptions.
• Make it your personal task to be aware of netiquette (the language and rules governing internet communication)

At the beginning of a discussion forum, you might find it useful if all participants agree to a set of ground rules. You could use the rules outlined here, or come up with your own. Each member of the forum could come up with 3 or 4 important ground rules. These can be shared with the rest of the group. Once there is consensus on the rules, these can be used to regulate the behaviour of the members. Any member of the group can refer to the agreed rules if another discussion participant disregards them.

Adapted from:

Marshall, L. 1997, A Learning Companion: Your Guide to Practising Independent Learning, 2nd edition, Murdoch University.

Lorraine Marshall, de Reuck, J. & Lake, D. 1996, Critical thinking in context: A teacher's guide to the video, Gripping Films Production, Academic Services Unit, Murdoch University.