Conquering the Forum Discussion
Kimi D Johnson
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Kim Ballard
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Abstract
Forums are one of the most effective tools for collaborative learning in online courses for both the flipped and traditional classroom, serving as a nexus for student-to-student and student-to-instructor discussion and expansive critical thought. Forum prompts, however, remain a difficult online tool to create and assess. How can instructors create effective forums and avoid assigning boring prompts or resented busywork? This presentation will cover the tips and tricks of writing and assessing forum prompts and also guide attendees through a brief workshop for improving their current assignments. We incorporate active learning theories from a variety of scholarly sources and provide guidance for improving the attendees’ existing courses. This will be a 60 minute workshop; the first 40 minutes will be devoted to sharing resources and examples of effective forum prompts and assessment. The final 20 minutes will allow instructors to either write a new assignment or improve an existing forum.
Attendees will leave with:
- Resources on forum creation for multiple types of forums
- Creative uses of the forum format for multiple types of classrooms
- Guidance on improving and assessing existing forum prompts
Author Biography
Kimi D Johnson, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Kimi Johnson is an instructional designer with an interest in social presence and collaboration, games and gamification, and active learning in online spaces. She has worked as an instructor and designer in face-to-face, hybrid, and online classrooms. She holds a PhD in Theatre Historiography from the University of Minnesota.
