The video below summarizes the tips on writing effective discussion board posts and shows you how to do it within a basic course management system. Check it out if you are new to discussion boards or just want to review some helpful tips.
Video Transcript
| 0:01 | In this video demonstration, I am going to provide you with a basic overview and some tips on making good discussion board posts in your online classes. |
| 0:11 | Every school has their own course management system so your system may look a little different than what you see here. |
| 0:17 | However, the basic concepts will be the same. |
| 0:20 | I am using a free online course management system just to show you how to go about making effective posts and to offer you some tips. |
| 0:28 | Some of the most common errors that students make in terms of their discussion board posts are number one not answering the question or the prompt. |
| 0:37 | Number 2 not editing their posts. |
| 0:40 | Number 3 being too informal. It’s okay to be more informal in a discussion board post, but you don’t want to be so informal that you’re using slang or not using completes sentences. |
| 0:53 | Number 4 students make the mistake of not saving their responses in a word processing program and what can happen is, if there’s a glitch in the system or the system times out and you just write your response in the window, you can lose all of your work. |
| 1:09 | And I’ve had that happen to students many times. |
| 1:14 | So, for this demonstration, I am going to focus on the discussion board prompt “Making Education Better.” |
| 1:20 | So, what I did is I went to my word processing program, and the first thing I did was copy the prompt at the top of my response to make sure that I was staying focused on that prompt. |
| 1:35 | Then, I made my response, and what I did was I composed it entirely in my word-processing program. |
| 1:42 | That way, I would be able to save it when I’m finished, and also this gives me an opportunity to run spell check and grammar check, which is very helpful. |
| 1:51 | A lot of the course management systems will have a spell check, but the grammar check is not as effective. |
| 1:57 | And of course, you’d want to make sure that you edit on your own, but it’s nice if you can use the tools in your word-processing program. |
| 2:05 | So, now that I’ve completed my post—and you’ll notice I have a reference at the bottom because I was required to use a source from the course in my discussion response—I’m going to copy and paste my response. |
| 2:25 | And I’m going to head over to my course management system, click on that discussion, and I’m the first to respond, so I’m going to click on create new thread, and then, all I’ll have to do is make sure that I put my in subject line in and then I’m going to be able to copy and paste my response into the window. |
| 2:49 | And, so once I’m ready to post, all I have to do is again type my subject line, and then come down to the bottom, and hit submit. |
| 2:58 | And now I’ve made sure that I have a discussion post that is clear, edited, and on topic. |
| 3:05 | I hope these tips are helpful. |