Planning Asynchronous Configurations

The typical configurations of activities using the online discussion forum technologies can be divided into three general categories: instructor-led, student-led (full-class, and student-led(small-group). Once you’ve decided that learning is best achieved through social interaction using the online discussion forum, you will need to decide which configuration will work best for your outcome.

Instructor‐Led

The instructor posts a prompt and students are required to post an initial response by midweek and one or more follow‐up responses to other students’ posts by the end of the week.

Student‐Led (full class)

A few students opt to each facilitate one discussion with the entire class, taking on the role of the instructor by crafting the prompt and providing moderation as needed. These student‐moderators might select this option as part of a set of collaborative inquiry projects.

Student‐Led (small groups)

The class divides into groups of 4‐5 people, and each student takes a turn as discussion moderator within small groups. This allows the potential for every student to lead a discussion. It is particularly useful when full‐class discussion threads have a tendency to become lengthy and overwhelming to follow. This configuration is also the same for group projects where the work occurs in the discussion forum rather than in a space outside of the digital learning environment.

Some examples of asynchronous learning activities that use the discussion forum tool to enable learning through social interaction are:

Whole group and small group discussion spaces: Not only can you bring all students into one large group, you can also organize students into smaller break-out discussion groups.

Workspace for group work: Using smaller break-out discussion forums as a collaborative space for group work, including, for example, working on projects or analyzing case studies and topic-related problems.

Presentation and feedback space: Forums provide common digital spaces for presenting work and commenting on peers and providing peer feedback. Here’s an example: students can submit their reading notes as an assignment to the discussion forum, including their own learning takeaways, ways they can apply the learning, and one question they had for someone else. Assign each student as a peer reviewer for each submitted reading assignment and they are to review the submission, provide feedback and answer the question. This activity enables students to meet and interact with another student in a structured way.

Supporting alternative modes of representation: Incorporating media into their discussion contributions, such as using images, and providing audio or video responses. Use video as a means to contribute instead of text. Asynchronous discussion then becomes the threading of the video conversation.  Add non-text elements to their postings as a means to communicate their ideas in addition to text. For example, to illustrate their response to a topic or reading, have them create concepts maps and upload the resulting map to the forum.

Alternative digital spaces to the online discussion forum

We often think of the online discussion forum within the learning management system as the primary place that asynchronous discussions take place. However, asynchronous discussions can also take place in other ways and through other applications. Group chats and collaborative documents are other common places. Messaging apps such as What’s App, Slack and Mattersmost also provide both asynchronous and synchronous experiences. Also, be aware that students may find their own platforms to work together on, particularly when working on group projects.