Using ADB

Having been a student in courses that underused the capabilities of ADB, I was curious to know if these experienced professors used it for more than just Q& A.

When asked how they used ADB in their courses, the responses were as follows:

Basic course Q & A
Course announcements and program level announcements
Whole class discussions
Small group discussions and group projects
Give assignments
Have students post assignments
Online office hours
Other - debates, case studies, lab assignments, journals, exam preparation

All of these professors indicated that they use it for Q & A. In fact, Dr. Hanna related that one of the biggest benefits of ADB for her course was that students could post questions outside of classtime, particularly the night before the exams.

Seven of them said they use ADB for whole class discussions, with six of them allowing or facilitating small group discussions. Dr. Hadaway allows her students to break into small groups naturally, "This happens when students respond to each other". Others put students into groups or teams and expect them to interact and collaborate, then report back to the class, many times having one person post a summary or response for the entire group.

Most of the professors post assignments on ADB and have their students post their work online in response.

Since all use ADB for Q & A, only one indicated that she uses it specifically for office hours. By the very nature of posting Q & A in ADB, there is no need to conduct traditional 'office hours' online.

Out of the eight respondents, six of them expand their use of ADB beyond the basics, including debates, journaling, case studies, and lab assignments. Dr. Lackey posts Harvard Business cases to teams that he has assigned. Dr. Williams posts Wall Street Journal articles for his teams. Drs. Hadaway and Hale use journaling extensively in their courses, encouraging students to contemplate and reflect on the content and their experiences.

What stood out in their responses to the first questionnaire were some definite advantages and disadvantages of using this tool, as well as some frustrations and excitement. In my readings, these advantages and disadvantages were highlighted as well.

Instructional Design

In my work as an instructional designer, I have heard some professors express concern about being able to control the conversations in these courses. Some have felt that the participants will turn the boards into social 'chat' rooms, not able to stay on topic.

After surveying 135 online instructors on this topic, Beaudin (1999) sites four effective strategies to keep discussions on topic:

• Carefully design questions to stimulate discussion
  
  
• Give participants guidelines for formatting their responses
  
  
• Reword the question if discussion goes off-topic
  
  
• Provide discussion summaries

Using these four strategies demands that the instructor be an active moderator. This does not mean that they have to be the main 'voice' in the discussions. In fact, it is often recommended that the instructor might start the conversation with a well-worded question, then step back and allow the students to respond, not only to the instructor, but also the other participants¹ postings.

Some of the other recommended techniques cited in Beaudin's study are:

• Formally present rules of conduct that eliminate off-topic comments
• Formally state the expectation that online discussions stay on topic.
• Provide alternative locations for off-topic discussions.
• Screen all postings and route off-topic posts to alternative locations with an explanation to the submitter.
• Include a reminder that responses stay on topic with all posted questions.
• Privately reprimand and provide corrective suggestions to learners who submit off-topic comments
• Provide a reward for keeping on topic.
• Proved a grade for keeping on topic
• Expel offenders from the discussion after 'x' number of off topic submissions (Beaudin, 1999)

Although a few of these strategies seem rather extreme, there have been situations when instructors have needed to take stricter measures to provide the needed guidance for the benefit of the entire class.

At a distance learning conference I attended recently, a speech instructor's experience illuminates this well. The instructor found that it was necessary to reprimand one class participant because she was posting comments in the discussions criticizing her fellow classmates about not posting and the quality of their posts. This had a very detrimental effect on other class participants and effectively inhibited class discussion because others ended up not wanting to post. Similar to what should happen in a F2F class, this instructor did not post a reprimand on the discussion board, but rather addressed the issue directly to the individual via email by pointing out how this behavior was affecting the other students and reminding her of the purpose of the discussions.

When relating this story, the instructor emphasized that even though this student's behavior shocked her, she is not discouraged from using the discussion boards because it happens so rarely.