Discussion Boards

I think there are many positive aspects to using discussion boards in classrooms and with students. Discussion boards force students to gather, research, and learn information on their own. Posting information on discussion boards allow students to gain knowledge from peers and share knowledge with other peers. Students can learn from each other outside of the classroom setting, bringing together students with common interests. Discussion boards also provide the opportunity for peer tutoring; students can teach and help one another with concepts and topics they are struggling with. This gives the students an opportunity to write more frequently which will then develop their writing skills even further. Research also shows that students put more effort into their writing if people other than the teacher will read it. Lastly, it provides flexibility for the students to think, and respond to other comments and discussions posted by other peers during their own time.

However, there is a down side to discussion boards. A facilitator, to ensure that all conversations are appropriate, must monitor the discussions between students. Students may use the discussion board as a social means instead of using it for educational purposes. Also, discussion boards make it difficult for teachers to monitor the resources being used by the students. They take away from personal interaction between each of the students and the students and teacher. Therefore, there is no verbal communication between either of them, and all comments and feedback would be by online communication. My last concern with discussion boards is that not all students have access to computers and this will make it difficult for the student to participate in online discussions.



Five ways to enhance classroom interactions using discussion boards

1. Students can communicate with each other if they need help with a particular concept (peer tutoring)

2. Students who do not usually voice there opinion during class time because they do not feel comfortable doing so, can voice their opinion using a discussion board

3. Ensure that there is a facilitator to monitor and guide discussions in the right direction

4. Teacher could provide examples of interesting and educational thread topics. The students could then go from there and continue with that thread

5. Teachers could communicate with colleagues to find out what is working in their classrooms; rules, lesson, discussions, etc.