Setting Clear Expectations for Discussion Board Assignments

Like most online instructors, I have a Love/Hate relationship with the Discussion Board. I both understand it's importance and value it's place in the online learning environment, but I also struggle with keeping the assignments interesting and engaging and DREAD grading them.

While I still have some struggles with them from time to time, I must admit that they have eased SIGNIFICANTLY since I created very clear guidelines and expectations for my students. Guidelines are a little bit different from rubrics (which I also use). Guidelines give more detailed information about what I expect to see in a post. For instance, in relation to timeliness, a rubric might say, "Makes posts on time", whereas a guideline will say, "Initial posts must be made by Thursday, 11:59PM and a response to a colleague must be made by Sunday, 11:59PM". 

Including both a rubric and guidelines for an assignment is essential. When creating guidelines for a discussion board assignment consider including the following elements:

Content: What type of information must be included in the post? For instance, I always require students to make some type of reference to their assigned reading. But I also ask them to include their opinion on the topic. I encourage them to provide examples, preferably of how this topic relates to a personal/professional experience they have encountered. It is also a good idea to invite them to include questions or thought provoking statements that might stimulate discussion.

Length: I do not like giving length requirements for discussion board posts because I feel that any length is fine as long as the question is answered, however, students REALLY like when this is clearly stated so I usually give a word count minimum for initial posts.

Response to a colleague: The whole point of a Discussion Board is to encourage discussion so I would always require at least one response post to a colleague. You should be explicit here that a response to a colleague does not include responding to a colleague that is responding to their original post. While this is encouraged, it does not help with community building or show interest in what others are discussing. Students should respond to the ORIGINAL post of at least one colleague (or 2 colleagues depending on your preference). Content for this response post should also be clearly stated and should not be superficial statements such as "I agree" or "Good job". Be sure to state that this should be substantial, quality posts.

Timeliness: In order for a discussion board to work as intended, everyone must engage in the discussion within a certain time frame. This is why I would recommend initial posts to have one due date and response posts to have a separate due date. This way students have time to really review what has been posted and pick one post that has sparked interest in them to respond to. I also typically do not accept late posts because, I promise you, no one is coming back to a Discussion Board Forum to engage with someone who has a late post and engagement is really the key here.

These are just some tips that I have used over the years to set clear expectations for Discussion Board Assignments. I would love to hear about the types of guidelines you use! 

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