D2L Webinar Available On Demand

On March 17, I had the honor of presenting a webinar on one of my favorite topics, Discussion Board pedagogy, for Brightspace/D2L.  In the presentation, titled "Amanda's 10 Commandments of Successful Discussion Board Assignments," I talked about the importance of discussion board pedagogy, and shared 10 best practices for using the discussion board to it's utmost potential.

You can click HERE to view the presentation (and all the supporting materials -- scroll down to March 17 for the links), but here are the 10 commandments in a nutshell:

1. Thou shalt remember the unique functions of the Discussion Board and use it for those functions only.
   In my opinion, the discussion board does 4 things really well:  a) Allowing students to contribute to the content of the course. b) Enabling peer-to-peer feedback. c) Facilitating personal connection and a sense of community and humanity with a course.  d) Encouraging critical thinking.  If you need a tool to do anything else (particularly if that need involves having students answering objective questions), find a different tool.
2. Thou shalt understand the structure and hierarchy of the Discussion Board when setting up assignments.
   Forum > Topic > Thread > Reply, with lots of options for how things are structured within that hierarchy.
3. Thou shalt NOT waste Discussion Board real estate.
   No busy work.  No unnecessary word counts.  Try having student answer a question in 10 words or less and make sure to utilize your Thread Title smartly.
4. Ask thyself, "What type of student response do I need?" and ask for THAT.  Specifically.
   This follows the concept of Backwards Design, which dictates that the learning objectives should point to the tool used, rather than the other way around.
5. Thou shalt include specific technical directions with each Discussion Board Topic Assignment.
   Students have a lot of options available to them when using the Discussion Board, more so than any other tool within their LMS.  Make sure to tell them specifically what you want them to do and where you want them to put each piece of information.
6. Thou shalt not take the words "Forum," "Topic," "Thread," and "Reply" in vain when crafting Discussion Board directions.
   Think of these words like trademarks -- if you're using them anywhere within your directions, make sure they are referring specifically to what D2L calls a Forum, Topic, Thread, or Reply.
7. Thou shalt incentivize early and often Discussion Board use by students.
   Consider using Easter Eggs, or rules that state you can't duplicate another student's answer -- anything to motivate students to post early and often.
8. Thou shalt employ "Must Post First" (when appropriate).
   This is a powerful feature that keeps students from seeing their classmates' posts until AFTER they have started a thread.
9. Thou shalt link Discussion Board topics to the Gradebook.
   It's worth it, just for the very convenient grading screen, from which you can view all of a students' posts within a particular topic.
10. Thou shalt utilize Creativity in Discussion Board assignments and Consistency in instructions and expectations.
    Instructors have to walk a balance between boring the student with too much repetition and overwhelming them with different directions each time.

Bonus:  Thou shalt utilize thine Instructional Technoloigst when needed to help with Discussion Board assignments!
Like I tell my faculty, you may only set up these assignments once or twice a year;  I do it every day. Let me help make your life easier and your class more exciting!