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-Do NOT say Dzpostdz
-Key word: Dynamic (engage w. peers, research- add third dimension to discussion)

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In CAMS 1102, Intro to Roman Civilization, we switched about five weeks into the
course from handing in paper responses to texts to posting responses in a
discussion forum for oneǯs section. I have six online discussions from six weeks
covering Virgil, Ovid, Catullus, Nero, The Dinner Party of Trimalchio and history on
Claudius. These were primarily literary or historical primary texts. In the first
discussion no one replied to another student. Perhaps they did not know how to do
this feature, or perhaps they thought they would not get credit if they replied.
Moreover the majority of students seemed to have viewed this as a way to highlight
what was of interest to them individually. So it was like a collection of 25 different
responses in glass cases, totally insular.

! " 
-The primary original purpose of the paper written responses was ensure that
students did the reading and secondary was that they thought about it.

-The objective with posting responses on Ning was to have deeper discussions in
class with more reflection on the texts. We believed that reading responses
beforehand would help us teachers lead better discussions, seeing what students
were interested in.

#$" 
Do they read what their peers write or are they simply writing on their own and
posting. Or, worse yet, are they repeating what peers have written? This was
evaluated by reading the posts and seeing if they responded to others. Later they
used the Dzreply todz button, which signaled that they chose a special post to reply to.

-Not such a good response if it was mere summary. However, as student Mark
Plourde noted, when someone in a prior post has summarized this meant that
following posters could not do this. I think what happened is that this student
realized that summaries were being written and avoided them, or he had to push
pas the summary mode and dig deeper to find more to talk about.

-Did students make some further connections with current politics, other texts, and
sitcoms?

-Did students do some research on the assigned text, topic or theme? For example,
some students posted YouTube links or links to photos!
-Judge class discussions. How are discussions different?

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-Save the environment! There were no more papers handed in. This meant I had
less germ exposure (no touching sneezed on papers), had proof of completion and
had less work as others commented on the responses.

-Did finally arrive at a pretty organic conversation in the discussion forum where
most students used the Dzreply todz feature, actually read their peers and responded
to their ideas.

-Students were able to make connections of the assigned texts with other reading
and films shown in the class.

$"  
-I like having students post their responses in the discussion forum because 1) I can
read their work before discussion 2) Students can read their peersǯ responses and
3) hear something from about everyone in the class, which is a benefit when there
are quiet students in class. So with online posts the shy students have an
opportunity to shine, though they are still shy in class!

-As the article DzMinds on firedz mentions students coming with their social networks,
I must say there were no enrolled discussion members who were not in my class. So
it seems that students do not invite their friends to the online class discussion.
Perhaps it is too boring of a subject!

-Did I build a community of scholars? They are starting to comment, analyze and
reflect!

-I feel the extra research (YouTube and pictures) enriched the class discussion in the
classroom. We viewed photos and clips together.

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-Donǯt say, DzPost your response!dz This is one-dimensional and does not stress
interaction. The word Dzpostingdz conveys the idea of not engaging.
-Explain that the online discussion is a form of pre-discussion to prepare for class
discussion, for face-to-face discussion.
-Need to stress the online discussion is a CONVERSATION, which means listening,
thinking and responding.
-Might be neat to allow groups to post on the online discussion forum. For example,
if some students or a couple talked in person about the reading then they could post
their collective response/thoughts. It might be neat to have them do this
collaborative exercise once or twice a semester. One could make it a requirement,
or could permit it to be done- raising the possibility with students.
-Make it mandatory to post several YouTube, photos or links over the semester. You
could even assign several students per week, so that consistently extras are found in
the discussion forum. This is also great as it reduces the teacherǯs workload. It also
builds in a fun research component. I make sure that the posting of these extras gets
public praise, online and in class!