Skip to Main Content

University of Tennessee

About ITC

Newsletter: Fall 2004

Participation in Online Discussions

by: Julie Little

How do I encourage participation in online discussions? How do I ensure that all students participate as evenly as possible?”

Students will vary in their willingness to participate in online discussions— some lack confidence in their written communication skills or their ability to provide opinion and critique. Some students are just shy. Cultural differences can also play a role if challenging the views of others is considered disrespectful.

Try This: At the start of the semester, create a forum for students to post their suggestions for rules/guidelines for participating in online discussions. What are their expectations for participation— honesty, responsiveness, relevance, respect, openness, empowerment, etc.? How do they define “netiquette,” and what role will it play in discussions? Give them a deadline. Once everyone has posted at least once, synthesize to form the “rules” or “guidelines” for the class discussion. Post to the forum for further comment and/or agreement to follow. When the class is ready to pursue academic or contentrelated discussions, be sure they are meaningful and have significance for the students. Pose questions that promote deep exploration of a topic. Encourage them to bring their life experiences into discussions. If you need to build student confidence, have them work in groups of three to discuss the issue/question (on e-mail) to prepare a “collective” response to the discussion forum. Give them a deadline. Once groups have posted their comments, open it up for individual comments. Encourage students to question each other. Reinforce quality, the rules/guidelines, and participation. Send a private e-mail to those who did not participate that you noticed they were “missing.” Try to find out if the problem was technical, social, or cognitive. Recognizing the silent voice can be as valuable as recognizing the heard one.