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Crystal Edmonds, retired college educator recommends, Discussion forums are a foundation of online courses because they serve as a hub for student discussion of a subject.
Photo: Faculty Focus
However, many online courses have become oversaturated with discussion forums that often serve as attendance assignments or ask obscure questions that really do not add to the purpose or content of the class. For my English composition course, specifically Freshman Composition II, the forum serves as a virtual location for students to discuss and center their ideas on a specific reading before moving to a major writing assignment.
The forum accomplishes three purposes: to engage them in conversation, to assess their comprehension of the text, and to serve as the first scaffolding task that leads to a major written task...
Refining the forumSome experts have discouraged faculty from beginning a forum with questions saying that it is outdated, or students are bored by the structure because it is overused; however, in an asynchronous online English class, such forums reinforce the idea that writing is not an individual activity; it may be a community endeavor. Students should be able to generate ideas and shape those ideas with the help of classmates. Students should be able to express their ideas and be prepared to defend those ideas—both are done through conversation.
However, I do acknowledge that other forms of technology may foster the same types of conversations. Using Voice Thread, for example, allows students to view an image and vocalize their responses instead of reading them.
Source: Faculty Focus
