Using Discussions to Increase Student Interaction

Discussions are a great feature for enhancing learning by giving students and instructors a place to hold asynchronous, topic-structured conversations regarding a course. A Discussion contains topics that guide the conversation. When it is added to a Course, a person with access to the course, its classes or Course Assignment may participate if they have the prerequisite permissions. Without the permissions, the discussion is not seen.

Discussion Roles

There are three main “roles” with discussions, each engaging different permissions:

1. Administrators – Those who create discussions and their topics and associate them with courses.
2. Moderators – Those who monitor the discussion and can remove posts, responses, and comments as necessary.
3. Participants – Those who interact with the discussion by making posts, responses, and comments.

By creating well-thought out discussions and topics and attaching them to relevant courses, you can engage your learners beyond the class enrollment or course assignment. It adds an element of social learning and provides your users with a great way of sharing ideas, asking questions, and growing knowledge beyond the courseware.