This article discussed the growing trend of collaborative online classes for K-12 students. While I have a hard time imagining kindergarten students participating in an online discussion, I think that online discussion boards and collaborative classrooms are a reality in the high school and middle school settings. The article detailed strategies about how to keep the discussions flowing and student interest high in the topics and assignments posted, in order to have maximum student learning and student gains.
The first step that one needs to take to create meaningful discussions online is to outline instructional objectives and outcomes for learners’. Next, one needs to force and pose questions that force the learners to interact and learn course content by doing research and using collaboration. These are the five strategies that were discussed in the article: high level open-ended questions; the inquiry method; the discrepant event inquiry method; personal examples; and using illogical comparisons.
Question #1: What are wikis? I know we are supposed to answer our own questions, but I don’t know what wikis are. I know what Wiki Sticks are. I use them in my classroom with students who have fine motor difficulties. I outline lines and have the students write between them, and I have students make shapes with the Wiki Sticks.
Question #2: What would a discussion board using illogical comparisons look like? The teacher would post a question comparing the life of Richard Henry Dana to ELMO. How are they similar? How are they different? Rewrite Two Years Before the Mast using ELMO as the main character and have it be set in modern times. What would happen?
Cole, Jennie (February 2009). Keep Them Chatting. Learning & Leading with Technology, 36, Retrieved 02/12/09, from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200902/
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