Template: Discussion Boards Regarding Course Content or Competency
Online Discussion Boards have been frustrating faculty for decades! How do I come up with conversation-provoking prompts? How do I tie real-world examples to the course content to get creative, unique responses? How do I get my students to actually engage?
Consider the Following Discussion Board Best Practices:
- Use Open-Ended Prompts Without a Single Correct Answer
- Use Bloom’s Verbs Links to an external site.
- Divide into Smaller Groups
- Try “What if?” Prompts
- Try Role Assignments Links to an external site.
- Add Multimedia Links to an external site.
- Require Student to Post Before Seeing Replies Links to an external site.
- Use a Rubric for Grading Links to an external site.
- Ensure that Students can Find the Rubric Links to an external site.
- Encourage 3CQ Comments Links to an external site.
- Set Clear Expectations with Detailed Instructions & Sample Posts
- Check out these Ideas to Create Engaging Discussions Links to an external site.
Below are links to two sample discussion boards and a discussion template in Canvas Commons.
When using the template, be sure to keep the current formatting and edit only highlighted and bracketed text to ensure that your discussion instructions are accessible.
Examples
In these sample discussions, students are asked to select a piece of information to share in their original post and assess or answer a question about what their peers shared in their responses. This is sure to promote creative thinking and generate unique comments!
Template
Download this Canvas page template from Canvas Commons and modify it to make it your own. The information within the brackets is a description of what to include in that section. Be sure to remove the bracketed information and brackets in your final version.