Discussion Online

Although it was not a shock to find out that these online writing classes would be student-centered, what I did not expect was the amount of discussion between the teacher and students and among the students themselves. In fact, most of the teachers I interviewed felt the amount of discussion and quality of discussion improved when they began teaching their courses online. As one teacher said, "My DL course...allows for student participation and interaction on a 24/7 basis....I encourage students to post to the listserv and to receive help via emailing each other, scheduling sessions in the course chat room, and posting specific topics of common interest to the threaded discussion group" (Sheftman). Another teacher commented that in a distance learning class "there is an opportunity for an equal (or greater) amount of discussion" (Bresnan). These sentiments were reflected in the syllabi I looked at. Two syllabi contained statements about class discussion that capture the spirit of these online courses:

Interaction between all of the participants in this class is at the heart of the experience and will be the ticket to your success. (Horvath ENGL 102N)

Because ENC1101 is not designed on the correspondence model, the success of the course depends upon the consistent participation of its members. (Buckman English 1011)

A course at the University Minnesota was representative of the kind of discussion required in these online writing classes. Students in this course are required to comment on twenty papers throughout the semester, make two "substantial" postings a week on a bulletin board, and email the instructor weekly with questions or comments (Buckman English 1011). This use of technology to foster discussions is common among the syllabi I collected. The percentage of classes using the communication tools of chat rooms, bulletin boards, listservs, newsgroups, and MOOs is broken down in the following chart:
 
 
 
Communication Tool:
Chat Room
Bulletin Board
Listserv
MOO
Email Only
Percent of Courses Using Tool:
25
35
20
10
5

Only one of the courses required no class discussion, and most classes required weekly posting of responses to assignments and/or responses to other student’s comments. Many classes made use of more than one of these communication tools.

Most of the teachers I interviewed felt that discussions in their distance learning classes are more thoughtful and focused than discussions in the conventional classroom. "Not only is there more discussion in my DL class," one teacher said, "but the quality of the discussion is, on many levels, better....Speech is ephemeral and can be quickly forgotten. Writing can be captured and scrutinized" (Sheftman). This teacher would agree with Creed’s point that tools like bulletin boards "encourage more thoughtful discussion....The breaking of real-time constraints allows for a more thoughtful conversation, since we can ponder what we have to say..." (7). One teacher who felt that face to face class discussions were more thoughtful did qualify his position: "I have to say that this is beginning to change: on-line discussions are becoming more thoughtful as students become more and more comfortable with the medium and conventions of exchange develop" (Morgan). Creed’s point that online communication technology encourages thoughtful discussion is highly debatable, and in my own networked classes I have had discussions on a bulletin board that were less thoughtful than "live" class discussions, but many of the teachers I interviewed felt the asynchronous communication of listservs and bulletin boards allowed students more time to reflect.

One teacher mentioned that her online discussions were more inclusive, and there was a general agreement that students who might not talk in a conventional class discussion are more likely to participate in an online chat or a bulletin board discussion. One teacher felt that, "Many students are more willing to risk venturing their opinions in a chat room than they are in person" (Sheftman), and another teacher pointed out that "students who speak less in traditional courses often ‘speak’ more freely and more often in on-line courses" (Sorsa). This teacher included testimony from students as part of his syllabus, and one of his students says, "Being shy, I tend to write much more freely than I talk (Don and a couple of my classmates will testify as evidenced by my long, extensive emails to them)" (Kirby qtd. in Sorsa College Writing). Related to this is an issue familiar to anyone who has taught: the problem of one or two students dominating class discussion. This seems to be less of a problem in an online course, as one teacher testified: "Perhaps the greatest benefit of an online workshop is the impossibility of one or two students dominating the discussion. Those students with much to say can still say it but without crowding others out" (McClard).

Even though these teachers felt discussions, in general, seem to be more thoughtful in their online classrooms, there were problems with the discussions that were specific to distance learning. For example, one teacher observed that often spontaneity is harder to achieve in responses in a digital environment (Montecino). But even though there were fewer spontaneous responses in an online classroom, some teachers noticed a tendency for their distance learning students to communicate beyond the required postings and chats. One teacher said, "There is considerable spontaneous discussion among students about assigned topics and approaches, at least as much as I would anticipate in a traditional classroom." This same teacher said that even though there are no collaborative assignments in her class, "I know for a fact that some students ‘work together’ electronically without prompting from their instructor! They tell me that they do this, usually via email but also using the webboard and the chat feature" (Pfannkuche). Another teacher created a chat room called "Writer’s Cafe" where students could "gather and converse freely...check in with one another, ask questions, vent, or even share Beat Poetry! This informal space will be an important aspect of this course to the extent that it sustains our sense of virtual community" (Oechlin English 111). These few examples cannot support Creed’s assertion that the Internet enhances student interaction outside of class (8), and I doubt that many of my students would share beat poetry in a chat room if they weren’t required to do so. But certainly technology like bulletin boards, listservs, and chat rooms have the potential to increase this kind of extracurricular communication which can create the virtual communities that constructivist teachers value.

Another problem with the technology is that it left some students feeling alienated. "The ‘bulletin board’ approach just seems a little clumsy for a freeform exchange of ideas," one student wrote in the Sorsa website, "many people may be tempted to sit the discussion out rather than make the effort of typing a message" (Powers qtd. in Sorsa College Writing). Another student wrote, "If a subject is based on style, opinion and the gray areas, more interaction and a personal exchange of ideas is needed. I don't think this can be accomplished on the internet" (Santiago qtd. in Sorsa College Writing). For some students, the lack of "live" interaction was too great a problem to overcome, even with chat rooms, bulletin boards, and listservs.

Introduction
Research Motivation
Constructivism Defined
Research into Distance Learning and Technology
Student-Centered Learning Online
Collaboration Online
Discussion Online
Conclusion
Research Method
Works Cited

 
Currents: An E-Journal Currents in Electronic Literacy Fall 1999 (2), <http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/currents/fall99/melzer/>