Discussion is a learner-centered instructional approach. The approach promotes deep thinking of course content and helps to cultivate students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills. In an online course, the asynchronous discussion board is also an important tool to create interaction among the instructor and the students. In this professional development course, you will be introduced to six strategies for designing engaging asynchronous online discussion boards in three modules. In Module 1, you will be introduced to the discussion approach and the revised Bloom’s taxonomy. In Module 2, you will learn six strategies to create engaging asynchronous online discussion boards. These strategies include: 1) Promote deep thinking by asking in-depth questions about the course content; 2) Encourage collaborative learning; 3) Organize debates; 4) Incorporate personal life experience; 5) Conduct mini-survey or interview; 6) Critique and evaluate. The instructor will also indicate which cognitive level in the revised Bloom’s taxonomy each strategy addresses. By participating in one of the six discussion boards, you will learn how to apply one of the strategies from both an instructor’s and a student’s perspective. In Module 3, you will reflect on the learning experience in this course in a synchronous video conferencing session. At the end of the course, you will create an asynchronous discussion board using one of the strategies introduced. The maximum time required for participation in the course is five hours.
- Teacher: Liangyue Lu