Moderating a Threaded Discussion Exchange
The way the task is framed and the way students are oriented to the
discussion appear to be crucial for a successful rhetorical exchange. One way of
moving the discussion forward is to sequence it as argument-as-experiment.
Our job is to set things up so that students can engage in a real issue
rather than simply present pre-formed opinion. They aren't practiced in making a
point into a discussable issue, but they seem to be able to pursue it and value
it if it's valued by you.
A List
- Computer-moderated discussions - like all discussions - are dynamic,
organic, generative beasts. They are unpredictable. When they are working,
they take paths we might not have planned for. Be open to unexpected
directions, don't expect adherence to formal constraints, and be ready to
zig when the discussion zags.
- Design and word discussion prompts as issues for consideration rather than
topics for debate.
- Introduce terms and methods to use - but don't expect compliance to
either.
- Sequence discussion prompts. Feed elements of one discussion into the next
discussion in the sequence.
- Show exemplary exchanges to students and explain why they are exemplary.
- Set start and stop times.
- Require participation. Evaluate participation over a number of
discussions.
- Use threaded discussion boards that allow archiving rather than real-time
or e-mail exchange.
- Ask participants to post summaries or extended responses to threads to
promote reflection.
- Show students how to cite, quote, and paraphrase others in their
summaries.
- Stay out of the discussion itself. Make your presence known by setting up
the issues.
- Promote a dialogical orientation towards each other and towards the issues
involved. Read the exchange - and help students read the exchange - as set
of arguments exchanged as experiments rather than a set of opinions and
positions.
- Watch for and point out how to develop a message that engages
argument-as-experiment, while at the same time encourages continuing the
exchange. The formal cues that are useful arise from within a viable
exchange and can be pointed out to students when they occur:
- One master form is "From one angle, V because W. But if you take
into account X, then Y, because Z.
- While I can see ... but if you take into account ...
- I can accept ... however, what about a case in which ...
- Signal words a phrases are because, if, but, however,
on the other hand, a case in which, in this situation
...
- Don't expect formal cues to leap out from the dynamic of the exchange.
This information from:
Morgan, M C , Ph.D., Assoc. Prof English, Bemidji State University
"Online Discussion in the FY Writing Classroom,"
http://cal.bemidji.msus.edu/english/morgan/onlinediscussion/recsForMods.html
(March 15, 2002).