Abstract:

Preliminary analysis of data from two online courses that form the research core of a sociology program indicate that at least in the online course environment, students spend most of their time in discussion boards. For example in 2019 first fall term, in a quantitative methodology course, students spent most of the time in the online class in each of the 8 week term’s discussion board postings except for the midterm and final examinations and two learning content items. In the qualitative online methodology course, taught the next term (2019 second fall term) the same pattern is observed. Depending on the way they are crafted, discussion board prompts can elicit “mini papers” and prove a useful tool for students to consider course materials. However, these assignments often account for a small fraction of overall grade and at least in this institution are not tied to a website checking for originality. This paper argues that given the amount of time students spend on these assignments and the fact that they can be crafted to provide a useful intellectual exercise, it would be beneficial to tease the intellectual aspect away from the social/interactive aspect by reimagining discussion board postings.

Keywords:

Discussion boards, online education, science of teaching and learning.