Unit 5 Planning and Facilitating Effective Asynchronous Learning
Technique 2: Responding
Too many posts, and participation of the wrong type, can backfire, reducing student participation. Some things to avoid:
- Praise! It can inhibit participation. “You’re absolutely right,” you enthuse in response to a particularly good post. Other students may think, “Right, no need for me to post anything, the Absolutely Right answer’s already out there.”
- “Ping pong” discussions: (student A – Instructor – Student B – Instructor, etc!) inhibit participation. When you respond to every post, participants do not feel a responsibility to reply to each other.
- Your too-quick response may also have a chilling effect. Once you’ve expressed your opinion on a question, participants will likely be reluctant to take an opposite view.
The type of intervention you choose to make will be driven by the stage of the dialogue, and by the kind of discussion that is happening when you intervene.
| If this is what’s happening… | Try this |
| Participants are all responding to an initial query/question, but not responding to each other’s responses. | Craft a post that responds to multiple postings, citing the contributors, and suggesting a direction for follow-up.
Consider revising your instructions for participation, encouraging participants to either post a new response or craft a response to one of their colleagues’ responses. |
| A provocative, particularly interesting, but off-topic post has led to multiple responses. The discussion is now no longer focused on course material. | Identify portions of the thread that are related to the topic of the course if possible, and create a thread that weaves those portions together.
Or Examine the off-topic issue and identify reasons why it is so appealing. Is there an aspect of that energy that can be found in the course material? If so, craft a post that acknowledges the energy and interest in the area, and direct it towards course materials where it applies. Or In a posting, or an e-mail to the originator of the post, encourage the participants to take the discussion to the “student lounge.” |
| A post makes a good point, buried in social chat. | Highlight the points in a follow-up posting, preferably one that cites multiple contributions from different participants. Ignore the irrelevant content. |
| Conversation seems superficial. | Ask questions that probe for underlying assumptions, explore cause and effect, or ask for more evidence. |
| Dialogue seems to be missing the main point. | Examine your own assumptions: participants may have identified what is, for them, the main point!
Or “Sweep the decks” and re-focus discussion on particular content, using the contributors’ contributions to do so. Avoid saying, “This is irrelevant.” Instead, focus on the contributions that are moving towards the main point, and pose a question to direct conversation in that direction. |
| Discussion seems unfocused and incoherent. | Craft a post that focuses on some key points that have been raised, and close by asking participants, “What intrigues you here — what idea would you like to follow up in discussion?” |
| Conversation is proceeding with two or three different, conflicting assumptions obvious from different participants | Craft a post that draws out the assumptions and pushes participants to examine them explicitly. |
