An Ode to the Discussion Board

I initially encountered Yavapai College's course management system, Blackboard, about four weeks before I taught my first class for YC.  I was nervous, overwhelmed, pregnant, and had never even taken an online course, let alone taught one.  "Don't worry," Jason said.  "Blackboard is very intuitive.  It will be a piece of cake.  I'll help you."

"That's nice of you," I said.  "Okay, first question: what does this Discussion Board tab do?"
 
"It's intended to help simulate the feel of a classroom.  It's an online forum that allows your students to have... well... a discussion."

"Huh.  Do you use it in your classes?"

"Of course!  It's best practice."

"Can I NOT use it?"

He shrugged.  "It's best practice."  I used it.  

This was back in 2010, better known as the Stone Age, and Jason has long since moved on to using VoiceThread.  He actually wrote about it in his 9x9x25 post this week, a coincidence I did not discover until I sat down to write my own highly original post regarding the online discussion board.  But as for me, I've continued utilizing the same, lame, old Blackboard version.  And honestly, I still kind of love it.

The key with Blackboard's discussion board, at least in my own experience, is to make sure every single question or topic proposed by the instructor is sufficiently engaging, unique, and debatable to entice participation from most of the students in the class, but to accept that even with my best efforts, my worst nightmare will often come true.  Many students, with the goal of achieving no more than half credit, will log on three minutes before the due date/time to offer a few vaguely acceptable (though wholly unoriginal) sentiments, and follow that up by responding to a couple of classmates with the bare minimum: "Great post, I totally agree."  Obviously, even if a topic or question is appealing or interesting - even if it's bordering on offensive, which I may or may not have tried - there are students who will participate in this manner.  I've learned, though, to content myself with a reminder that many of these students participate only minimally in other grading assessments, too, and their final scores generally reflect this laissez faire attitude toward participation.  Were it an in-person class, they might also be the type to skip sessions, surreptitiously text their friends in class, or otherwise refuse to participate.  For my part, I find it freeing to consider these students as only hurting themselves.

On the flip side, posing a question that is too controversial is never a good idea.  Moderating comments more commonly (and more appropriately) reserved for the comment section below news stories involving the latest racist or misogynistic slur issued by some pill-popping talk radio troll is not an activity I want to spend my late-night hours engaged in.  I have enough trouble falling asleep.

The key is to find a middle ground: topics and questions that will engage students enough to participate, but will still allow for a range of acceptable feelings and opinions to be expressed.  It is also helpful if the topic requires the student to demonstrate a good deal of thought, rather than knowledge or ability.  Some of the best discussion board questions I've had have been centered around online exercises I've asked students to complete (or videos I've asked them to view) then return to the discussion board and share.

As a sociology (mostly) and psychology (sometimes) adjunct, here are a few of the online activities I've used that have resulted in excellent discussions on my online discussion boards:

Spent, where students complete the activity and share their experience.  This exercise challenges students to get through a month with $1000, and poses various dilemmas which involve making hard choices about how to spend it - do I take my child's birthday money?  do I have the dog put to sleep? - leaving enough to finish out the rest of the month.  There are always students who disclose this exercise resembles their real life, which tends to inspire empathy (and second thought) in others, who might be tempted to view the results as unrealistic.

The Race Card Project, developed by NPR host Michele Norris, where students are asked to come up with their own six words to describe race in America.  Some of the online examples on The Race Card website include black babies cost less to adopt and - at the height of public awareness over the death of Trayvon Martin - 57 years later, another Emmett Till.  This is a great exercise, because students who have a better grasp of issues related to race and inequality come up with amazing examples, while students who are newer to the subject can still come up with examples that represent their own feelings.

The Pew Forum's Religious Knowledge Quiz, an abbreviated version of the one administered to a random sample of over 3,000 Americans in 2010.  After completing the quiz, I ask students to discuss how they fared compared with how they thought they might (they do not have to reveal their results), how knowledgeable they think the average American is about religion, and whether it is important to be knowledgeable.  Because religion is an issue around which many people create their identity, students often enjoy the challenge.  A range of religions are included, and the discussion is generally positive. 

An edited clip about the life of David Reimer.  This is a new one I tested out in Human Sexuality this semester.  Because students universally regard David's story as extremely tragic, there is a great deal of room for agreement.  At the same time, David's story opens the door for a discussion around gender as fluid, fixed, or somewhere in between.  His story inspires compassion, and also encourages students to see the gray areas involved with gender and sexuality.  After viewing the video this past semester, I had one student come out openly on the discussion board as transgender, one as a drag entertainer and gay male, and a couple others as gay or lesbian.  And then something really amazing happened: those students took it upon themselves to offer to answer other students' questions... and their classmates started asking.

A Living Will Generator, which I ask students to complete (again, they do not have to share their results) and then come back and discuss the way they felt as they filled out the form.  I make sure to point out this living will is not legally binding, but rather is a good jumping off point for decision-making and discussion with their loved ones.  Students enjoy this exercise, even when they hate thinking about it.

Will I ever give up the discussion board?  Maybe I will, maybe someday, maybe once I figure out a better way to do it.  But not yet.  For the purposes of my online courses, it's too valuable.  Often, I wind up observing better discussions in my online courses than I do in their in-person counterparts.  And in the rare cases when anonymity can actually be a good thing, it's important to put it to use.