Improving participation in online discussion - expectations and responsibilities.

Set expectations and responsibilities regarding participation in the online environment. This helps people understand what is a reasonable commitment to participation for that group.

Here is an activity to do early that sets the direction for online activity and helps generate the norms for these things.

Split the students up into groups of 6 - 8 students. Assign them randomly.

Activity One
Step One.
Set them the following activity for each group. The aim is for the group to come up with a group consensus, not for each student to just give his or her response. You might give them a few days to post a group reply to this activity. Specify a specific date by which the group should respond. Indicate that if they do not provide a group response, they must accept whatever is decided.

Step Two.
Post a message such as this shown below to the main forum for this activity.
In their small groups discuss their responsibility in terms of participation in the online discussion forums.
As a group, generate a list of what they see as their responsibility in terms of participation in the online discussion forums, addressing the following areas:
· How much time should they spend on average each week online in the discussion forums

· How often they should log on to read what has been posted.

· How many postings on average (or minimum) they should make for any particular topic. For this one you will need to give an indication of how long a discussion will run for and what is the nature of the activity (e.g. general discussion, specific activity, staged activity, etc.)

· What types of postings are considered acceptable?
o For example is it ok to just post a message saying "I agree" or "good point".
o Should there be a restriction on length of postings and if so what is acceptable
o Is any style OK (e.g. point form, essay style, one word comments)?
o What rules of netiquette apply (e.g. language used, abbreviations used, use of capitals and / or icons, comments about others in the class, criticism of points made)?

· Any other items?

Step Three.
Once a group consensus from these points has been achieved and posted by each group, the next step is to gain consensus across all groups.
You need to look at the responses.
Where there is disagreement, all variations need to be summarised and then discussed in open discussion. I suggest each group elects a spokesperson. Discussion amongst members can continue in their own groups. Some message indicating a consensus needs to be reached (perhaps a range or a number of viable options can be acceptable). This can be done by getting each group to give their reasoning behind their decision, then you suggesting a possible solution if the students can't come up with a consensus. Allow a couple for days for them to post their reasoning behind their decision. Once again set a specific deadline.

Step Four.
If you have other items to add, post these and ask the students to consider them to come to consensus.

Step Five.
Once agreement has been made, a summary of points agreed on is written up by you and posted as the agreed responsibilities for students in the unit.


Activity Two
List their expectations of the tutors and lecturer of the unit.
What do they see as the role of the tutor / lecturer in the online forums?
How much participation and what type of participation do they expect from tutors / lecturers?
Run this activity in a similar way to the first one, with discussion in small groups and a consensus outcome posted to the main forum for this discussion.
Once all have agreed on the roles and expectations, then you need to indicate if you think they are reasonable.
This information is then written up and posted as the agreed roles and responsibilities for tutors / lecturer in the unit.