Optimizing the Use of
Discussion Board Forums
Jim Flowers & Sam Cotton
Department of Technology
http://jcflowers1.iweb.bsu.edu/pres/BbForums.ppt
Agenda: Discussion Board Forums
Organizing options for
forums
Setup Options
Strategies & Tips
Research Results
Assessment
Blackboard 7?
Discussion Board Forums
Private for those in Bb
course
Mostly text-based
Asynchronous
Threaded
Monitored
Can include
attachments
Who here uses a Bb forum?
Purposes of Forums
Social (ice-breakers, community-building)
Managerial or organizational
Providing instruction
Submitting results of activities
Class discussion activities
Teamwork
Other
Type of Class
Online
Face-to-Face (F2F), Technology-aided)
Hybrid or Blended (of online and F2F)
Non-class situations
Required or Optional Participation?
Required
– Assessment vehicle
– Promotes participation
– Other
Optional
– To reduce stress and promote authentic
interaction or creative thought
– For optional material (remedial or enriching)
– For social reasons
Bb 6 Forum Setup
Quantity of forums and participants?
Location or Order
Class or Group
Title, Number, and Description
Instructions
Starter Thread(s)
Forum Settings
Advanced Tools for Students
Entering HTML code into a message
Personalizing posts
Quoting in a reply
Always changing the subject line
Viewing options, expanding threads, and
collecting multiple messages
Options for Instructors
Tools & Strategies for
Instructors
Planning discussion topics (checklist)
Avoiding overwhelming the discussion
Responding to a thread vs. post
Viewing multiple messages
Grading by collecting selected messages
Macro to convert content
– Http://jcflowers1.iweb.bsu.edu/bbconvert.doc
Try this:
Initiating Messages from Cited
Sources
Ask them to post a problem or issue based
on literature they have reviewed.
Debates
“Will You Play a Question Game?”
Roles
Be a historical
figure
Organizational
roles
Cognitive roles
Cooperative
teams
Local Research Results
Cooperative vs. collaborative
– Rose, M.A. (2004). Comparing productive online dialogue in two group styles:
Cooperative and collaborative. The American Journal of Distance Education,
18(2), 73-88. Available online from Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Online at
http://www.leaonline.com/
Cognitive Role Assignment
– Rose, M.A. & Flowers, J. (2003). Assigning learning roles to promote critical
discussions during problem-based learning. Paper presented at the 19th Annual
Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning, Madison, WI. Retrieved July 7,
2004, from
http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/Resource_library/proceedings/03_73.pdf
Methods of Assessment
Who performs the assessment?
Quantitative
– Quantity
– Frequency
Qualitative
Rubric / Criteria for discussions, e.g.:
– http://scotton.iweb.bsu.edu/Tutorials/DiscRubric.htm
Category 1: Questions
Posing a question relative to the current
topic that will further the person's
understanding or ability to apply skills to
the assignment, if answered.
– Must be related to current topic.
– 1 Point per question.
– (Note: Multiple questions in a single post
count as one item.)
Category 2: Information
Offering an unsolicited observation, piece
of advice, pertinent past experience, or
other helpful information that could benefit
other participants. (Requires some depth
of thought, normally requiring three or
more sentences.)
– Must be related to current topic.
– 1 Point per item.
– Note: Items of less than 3 sentences will
normally achieve 0.5 (1/2) point.
Category 3: Simple Response
Responding or reacting to another
participants question or statement and
offering useful information directly related
to the question posed. Useful but brief
response of three (3) to seven (7)
sentences.
– Must be related to current topic.
– 1 Point per item.
– Note: Items of less than 3 sentences will
normally achieve 0.5 (1/2) point.
Category 4: In-Depth Response
Responding or reacting to another participants
question or statement and offering useful
information directly related to the question
posed. Useful in depth response normally of
eight (8)or more non-repetitive complex
sentences. (Sentences of only a few words do
not apply in most counts.)
– Must be related to current topic.
– 2 Points per item.
More Local Research Results:
What about student self-assessment?
– Flowers, J., & Cotton, S. (In Press.) Impacts of Student categorization of
their online discussion contributions. American J. of Distance Education,
22(2).
Some Changes to Forums in Bb 7
Instructor’s Manual from Blackboard.com:
– https://behind.blackboard.com/s/faculty/refcen
ter/docs/details.Bb?DocumentID=1660&Produ
ctID=10000&DocumentType=ID
Copying Forums
“The process of creating a clone of a
forum or the forum settings in the same
discussion board or in another discussion
board in the same course or organization.”
(p. 162)
Thread Status
“The Forum Manager can change the status of
a thread to one of the following:
Published: A published thread is available to users.
Locked: Users may read the thread but not make any
additions or modifications. Locking a thread allows Grades
to be assigned without users updating or changing posts.
Unlocked: Unlocking a thread allows users to modify and
add to the thread.
Hidden: Hidden threads do not display unless the user
chooses. Hidden threads may not be modified. Hidden
threads may not be modified. Hiding threads removes
outdated threads and makes relevant content easier to
find.
Unavailable: Unavailable threads are only visible to forum
managers. Even then, forum managers must choose to
view these threads. Making threads unavailable means
that users can no longer view the thread.” (p. 163)
Searching & Collecting
“A search function appears at the top of the page
throughout the Discussion Board. The search
includes a keyword field, date restrictions, and
options for where to search.” (p. 163)
Rating Posts
For “Peer Review”
For other purposes
“Users can respond to
a post using a 5-star
rating system.” (p.
170)
Averages are
displayed.
Subscribe
“Receive an email alert when a post is
updated or a user posts a reply.” (p. 165)
Moderate Posts (optionally)
“Moderating posts requires that all posts
are reviewed by a responsible party before
the content is shared with the class.” (p.
171)
The “Moderator” may be a different
individual than the “Manager” (instructor),
or the “Grader.”
Grading Forums and Threads
“The Instructor
has the option
to grade
Students at the
forum level or
at the thread
level.” (p. 168)
New Forum Settings
Publish Now, or Save Unpublished
“A post that has been saved for future editing”
(p. 162) but not yet published.
View Expanded Statistics
“Total Posts
Date of Last Post
Average Post Length (number of characters)
Minimum Post Length (number of characters)
Maximum Post Length (number of characters)
Average Post Position
Grade (if the post is not yet graded, the
instructor may click a link to the Gradebook to
add a grade)” (p. 176)
Instructor Archiving
“Archive Course creates a permanent
record of a course including all the content
and user interactions. Archived courses
are saved as .zip files. Archiving a course
does not remove it from the system.” (p.
217)
Conclusions:
Evaluate and Improve
Try out new features
Collect forums
– Analyze what students say and don’t say
– Analyze instructor’s habits
– Create learning objects from frequently
posted instructor comments
– Conduct research?
Optimizing the Use of
Discussion Board Forums
Jim Flowers & Sam Cotton
Department of Technology
http://jcflowers1.iweb.bsu.edu/pres/BbForums.ppt