effective use of online discussion

Effective Use of Online DiscussionBoards

Susan McCourt

Bristol Community CollegeSusan.McCourt@BristolCC.edu

Who’s here today?

Why discussion?

Engagement with other students and instructor

Why discussion?

Ask questions

Answer questions

Why discussion?

Display and Discuss Graphs

Assignments

Statistics Liberal Arts Math

Statistics• StatCrunch Data• Histogram, shape, skew• Boxplot, 5-number summary, outliers,

dispersion, z-scores• Linear Regression: r-value and

correlation, equation slope and intercept, residual

• Normal Distribution: QQ-plot

Software for Students

Jing: www.jingproject.com

Screencast software that can give students embed code

First assignment critical

Jing and DiscussionAlso provided:Handout andVideo

What works?1) Technology required and early

Liberal Arts Math

What works?

Statistics

1) Technology required and early

What works?2) Rubric with strict grading (and

nudging in first assignment)

What works?

3) Answer only in Discussion Board

What works?

• If needed, bonus points for asking/helping

How do I decide?

• Enhances learning

• Fills a hole

• Worth the work for me and students

Other ideas

Students photo their work

Upload to their computer

Use Jing to post

Questions?

Susan.McCourt@BristolCC.edu