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Review and Teach With These 9 Free Jeopardy Templates

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Customize these completely free and easy to use Jeopardy templates, and use them to teach students or review with a fun Jeopardy game.

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I've talked about icebreakers as part of my " Successful Start: Designing Your First Week of Class" blog post and video series. But, not all of them work well in an online context. If you're teaching an online college course and are swamped by lesson planning, here's a video and post about five icebreakers for online college courses that you can make your own. Plus, a second video with five more online icebreaker activity ideas that can help students better understand how to use Zoom and your LMS class website. [More interested in online class discussion activities? Here's a video with seven online discussion designs.] And if you want to see more of my online teaching tips after you read this post, check out my full list of resources.

Icebreaker 1: "Introduce Yourself" Discussion Forum Post

Want to keep it simple and low-tech? Create a discussion forum topic in your class LMS called "Introduce Yourself." Have students answer a short list of questions, with prompts like "what's one strange fact about you?" or "what's your hometown?" I also have the optional question of "what're your preferred pronouns," just in case a student's pronouns aren't evident by their name on the roster. I also make the first prompt on the list, "what is your preferred name or nickname?"

Have students fill out this post during the first week of class. I reply with my own information, too, so students can get to know me a bit better right away. For my full list of example prompts, see the video above.

Also, here's a LMS tutorial that shows basic and more advanced tools that you can use when teaching online or in hybrid courses.

Icebreaker 2: "Introduce Yourself" Flipgrid Post (and Other Posts)

Flipgrid is a video-based tool that allows students to reply to your prompts with short videos, rather than typed text. You can choose the required length of the video responses and students can reply to each other's videos, as well. Here's a full video tutorial I've created about the tool, which includes different ways to use it in your classroom. It's great for all types of activities, so it's a tool you can use to create icebreaker-like activities throughout the semester, rather than just during week one.

If you're teaching an online college course and are swamped by lesson planning, here's a video and post all about five icebreakers for online college courses that you can make your own. #AcademicChatter Click To Tweet

Icebreaker 3: Create a Playlist or Soundtrack

Music is such a great way to get students to connect with one another. So, for this icebreaker, have students respond to an icebreaker prompt (in your LMS discussion forum) with a playlist or soundtrack that they've created themselves. They can actually create their response using Spotify, for example, or they can just list out the songs in a discussion post that you create in your LMS class website. I give a few examples of prompts for this activity in the above video, but basically, consider if you want the icebreaker to be really flexible or specifically connected to the class you're teaching.

So, you might ask students to create a playlist of their 10 favorite songs and then ask them to reply to a few of their peers' lists with their own thoughts on the songs. Or, you might ask students to create a soundtrack related to your course, with songs tied to the topics they'll be learning about in it.

There are many different prompts you can give for this icebreaker. You might even create a Spotify playlist for the class using the songs they submit in this icebreaker!

Icebreaker 4: Class Bingo with Zoom

I've mentioned my favorite icebreaker multiple times on my blog and YouTube channel. Here's another blog post all about icebreakers, for example. For this version of class bingo, instead of students walking around the classroom and filling out their course-themed bingo card, create a live bingo game on Zoom. You can create the bingo cards on Flippity (here's a tutorial on using this website) and send them to your students to fill out during the game. Or, you can have them draw their own cards and write out your list of prompts onto their own bingo boards.

For this version of the game, call out one prompt from the list at a time and give students about 30 seconds to write out their answers on their cards. For example, the prompt might be "favorite children's book." Your students would find that prompt on their cards and fill out their answers to the prompt. Once they've done that, take some time to discuss their answers as a class. Have students volunteer to share their responses and see if anyone else gave the same answer or actually really dislikes that book, etc. After a brief discussion, move on to the next random prompt. Repeat for the rest of the class period.

You can give students a certain shape that equates to "bingo" if you've created different versions of the cards for them or had them draw their own while randomizing the prompts on the cards. Or, you can have filling out the whole card as the way to win. If you give students 25 prompts, for example, then make sure the cards are 4×5 or smaller. That way, not everyone will win at the same time.

If you want to show the prompts on Zoom by sharing your screen, but don't know how to do this, here's a video on how to screen share on Zoom (plus, how to create breakout rooms for small group activities).

Icebreaker 5: Create a Meme

This can be a really quick, but fun, icebreaker. Once again, create a discussion forum topic in your LMS site. Ask students to create their own meme or multiple memes tied to a certain prompt. For example, have them create a meme about college or about your course topic or about what they think about X topic. Once they create the meme(s), have students share their responses on the forum post and reply to a few of their peers' memes, as well. You can also make this the start of a Zoom class discussion later on, if you want to increase the community-building nature of this activity.

I use Canva to create my graphics. It's a free tool that you can share with your students. It includes a lot of free stock images and other illustrations, so students can create some great memes. Of course, the website can be used for creating infographics and other multimodal genres, as well. Here's a video with five digital major project ideas that can benefit from using Canva. And here's a Canva video tutorial with some ideas for using it when teaching.

Here's my meme example from the video above!

Final Thoughts

These five icebreakers for online college courses can be adapted in a lot of different ways. And, of course, they can also be adapted for a face-to-face classroom, as well. Check out the video below for five more icebreaker ideas. If you have any of your own online class icebreakers that you'd be open to sharing with other interested instructors, I'd love for you to describe them in the comments section below. If you're interested in finding out about other edtech tools that I think work well for online courses, I've added a PDF with my favorites to my resource library. If you don't have access yet, you can sign up here.

Bonus: 5 More Online Icebreakers

Comment Below: What's your favorite icebreaker for online classes?

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10 Icebreakers for Online Classes (College) - Erika Romero

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These five icebreakers for online classes can help strengthen the learning community your students create in your classroom. The first activity...

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Learning Activities for Asynchronous Online Classes

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Learning Activities for Asynchronous Online Classes

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Learning Activities for Asynchronous Online Classes

Asynchronous online classes offer students more flexibility and reduce access challenges, although large files such as streaming video can still present internet bandwidth challenges. You can help students succeed in asynchronous courses through careful course design, including building a community of inquiry that includes cognitive presence, instructor presence, and social presence.

Since building a community of inquiry is important to student success in asynchronous courses, these courses can especially benefit from a constructivist approach, which focuses on students constructing their understanding of content together. For more information on the constructive approach you can also see Assignment Templates and Examples from The Complete Step-by-Step Guide to Designing and Teaching Online Courses and Cornell University's Group Work: How to Create & Manage Groups.

Asynchronous active learning can take many forms, including:

Course content can come from different sources and be delivered in different formats. You can locate relevant content created by others from a variety of sources, including the River Campus Libraries.

Open pedagogy can be particularly useful in online education and encompasses not just open education resources (OER: freely available content), but also other aspects of openness such as collaborative construction of materials as part of a course. Open pedagogy is supported by outreach librarians such as Kim Hoffman, who has co-edited an OER book on open pedagogy.

STEM instructors can consult this Online Resources for Science Laboratories developed by the POD Network.

Discussion Boards

Discussion boards are a central learning activity in many asynchronous courses, and they can allow students to interact using a variety of media, including text, images, audio, and video. Discussion board software options have different strengths, and the University of Rochester provides access to a range of choices.

When setting up a discussion board, you will need to make a number of choices about how to structure and manage student interactions. The following resources address key areas:

"Creating and Managing Discussion Posts" in The Online Teaching Survival Guide: Simple and Practical Pedagogical Tips by Judith V. Boettcher and Rita-Marie Conrad: This primer on discussion board basics is especially helpful in explaining how to write good questions, but covers everything from post timing and duration of each board to ways to wrap up online discussions.

Breaking the Humdrum of "Post Once and Reply to Two Others" by Lisa Kidder and Mark Cooper, Idaho State University: This presentation and accompanying handout reviews a wide range of types of discussion board activities, including case studies, debates, and challenge questions.

"Developing Cognitive, Social, and Teaching Presence Online" in Tina Stavredes, Effective Online Teaching: Foundations and Strategies for Student Success: Constructed specifically around the community of inquiry framework, these four short chapters are full of options, practical tips, and structured aids such as rubrics. In particular, the chapter on instructor presence offers an overview of productive ways for instructors to engage in discussion boards such as weaving, implications, inferences, and summaries.

Meaningful Online Learning: Integrating Strategies, Activities, and Learning Technologies for Effective Designs by Nada Dabbagh, Rose M. Marra, and Jane L. Howland: Using a lens of meaningful learning, this book offers online learning activities categorized by supportive, dialogic, and exploratory options.

Videos

Another way to deliver course content is to create videos. Best practices suggest that these should be short (less than six minutes) to increase student engagement and reduce cognitive load, so consider chunking your lecture material accordingly. To get started, try consulting the following:

Record Effective Microlectures from the Online Teaching Tookit by the Association of College and University Educators: This two-and-a-half minute micro-lecture by Michael Wesch explains micro-lectures, and Wesch has a YouTube channel with additional content.

Screencasting 101 by Kristin Palmer, University of Virginia: Learn about the basics of screencasting, which combines instructor audio with screen content from a computer.

Effective educational videos by Vanderbilt University: This longer webpage goes through the research to make evidence-based suggestions about how to use videos to teach and has several convenient summary graphics.

Education Technology Tools

Asynchronous learning activities can benefit from a seemingly endless array of tools. When selecting your tools, consider carefully how many tools you are introducing. While students will likely use common tools such as Blackboard, Zoom, and Panopto in many of their courses, student time investments will get increasingly steep if each of their instructors introduces a large number of additional tools. Also consider whether a particular tool has been vetted by the University of Rochester for security and privacy issues, particularly if the tool requires students to set up an account. AS&E Instructional Technology maintains a list of vetted tools.

Each time you use a new tool in a course, you will need to teach students how to use it. An easy way to do that is to embed a link to a video tutorial at the location where the student is expected to use the tool. Many software providers offer these video tutorials on their website or YouTube channel. Offer students a low-stakes introduction to any tool that will be used for a graded assessment later in the course.

To locate tools that will work for you and tutorials on their use, consult the following resources:

If you have questions about how to select and use software (tools), contact AS&E Instructional Technology. If you have questions about how to teach (pedagogy), contact the Teaching Center.

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Learning Activities for Asynchronous Online Classes

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Asynchronous online classes offer students more flexibility and reduce access challenges, although large files such as streaming video can still present interne

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Student Engagement Strategies for Online Discussions

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Student Engagement Strategies for Online Discussions

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3 minute read

Data from our 2022 Voice of the Online Learner report shows that 77% of learners reported they decided on the online modality before any other factor. As the demand for online offerings increases, it is important for faculty to deliver well-designed and engaging courses to meet their student's needs.

In online courses, students have been shown to demonstrate more positive attitudes and greater levels of performance when discussion boards are highly interactive. To ensure we, as faculty, connect with our students and deliver quality online learning experiences, we must re-think the ways we can engage with them to increase their level of participation so that students can reap all of the benefits of elearning.

Nine simple ways to increase student engagement in online discussion forums:

Participate in the "Student Lounge":

Respond to all student introductions. Post your own introduction and talk about both your personal and professional background. Your students will model how you relate to them. Follow-up on all questions - either privately or publicly.

Attach Photos, Images, Videos, Tweets, Links, etc ,:

If you really want to make your online course stand out from competition, use media to illustrate a point, create more conversation, inject humor, or just for fun. When using personalized videos, ensure you look into the camera to appear that you are making eye contact. Record videos using your webcam, smartphone, etc., and upload the files to YouTube, Vimeo, screencast.com, or use a service like VoiceThread. Encourage your students to do the same.

Read All the Posts:

Students who read all their fellow students' postings consistently get higher grades, so you should do the same. You don't have to respond to all posts - that may stifle a real discussion. Instead, give students the "space" to respond to each other.

Res pond to Students with a Question, Affirmation, or Feedback:

To replicate on-campus learning experiences online, respond frequently to your students individually - whether it's private or public. This shows that you value them and allows you to identify at-risk students. Highlight the good points your students have made. Your interaction encourages students to post more often and stay engaged.

Ask Questions and Challenge Your Students to Think:

Discussions are driven by questions - so ask. Guide your students to go deeper and think critically about the subject matter outside of what is provided in the course materials.

If a Discussion Is Lagging, Try Re-Framing the Question:

"Flipping" the question, or restating it using different terms, can help students understand the discussion better. If nothing seems to work, you may want to replace the question totally, or simply ask the question: "We seem to have some difficulty with this question, why do you think that is?"

Always Watch Your Online Tone:

Qualify your tone if necessary. Avoid the overuse of exclamation points! NEVER TYPE IN ALL CAPS. Emoticons and symbols add value to the conversation when implemented sparingly. You incorporate humor, images, and frame your responses and statements for students to better understand you.

Affirm Your Students Whenever Possible:

Affirm (but don't flatter) your students collectively and individually, with recognition of what they brought to the discussion. The affirmation may even be part of the framing you use to then ask them a question or encourage them to go deeper.

Don't Be Afraid to Ask Students How a Particular Discussion Is Working:

Periodically ask your students what's good (or bad) about a particular discussion. How is it working/or not working for them? What could be improved? When you ask, be sure to acknowledge and act on their comments if needed.

Utilizing the above tips as you implement an online discussion will go a long way in student relationship management, increasing your presence, and encouraging creative thinking in the online classroom. For more best practices in engaging online learning environments , such as better utilizing media or increasing faculty-student engagement online, visit our Resources page.

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9 Student Engagement Strategies for Online Discussion Forums

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See how faculty can in increase their presence and encourage creative thinking in the online classroom with these 10 tips for online discussion forums.

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Make Online Discussions Engaging, Effective, and Equitable

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Make Online Discussions Engaging, Effective, and Equitable

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Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning

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The perfect class discussion can feel like something of an alchemy. From the instructor's preparation to the students' personalities, many ingredients can enable or challenge the social construction of knowledge in a class community. As Jay Howard suggests, quality discussions require a great deal of planning and an understanding of social, emotional, and intellectual dynamics (Howard 2019). As we begin one of the most unusual semesters in the history of higher education, with institutions implementing a combination of remote, hybrid, and in-person instruction, it's urgent to consider how we can facilitate meaningful discussions in virtual environments. In particular, if instructors used video conference software during the emergency remote teaching of the spring and summer, they may have experienced a ghost town of student reticence and awkward silences, and the occasional shuffle of video boxes like virtual tumbleweeds.

These challenges are understandable, but with practice there are some ways to reduce silence and uncertainty while bolstering engagement and equity in virtual discussions. If we're open about trying new strategies, reflecting on them, and trying again, we can transform this moment into an opportunity to motivate and connect with our students.

1. Openly discuss how virtual discussions feel different than in-person discussions.

Teachers are likely accustomed to seeing many faces looking back at them, but for students, the interface may feel disorienting and intimidating. It's useful to name the awkwardness as well as our own misgivings. Allowing space for students to work through their own thoughts and feelings about virtual discussion as a sort of meta-exercise also communicates that you value student input and a collaborative learning environment.

Virtual discussions also might feel more "managed" than what we're accustomed to in the physical classroom, but these discussions also need more explicit direction. As Viji Sathy and Kelley A. Hogan remind us, "All students appreciate and thrive from additional structure, and some benefit disproportionately," (Hogan and Sathy 2020). With practice, things will feel more natural. Be kind with yourself and your students, and continue to provide opportunities for reflection on how the discussions are going and how they can better support students' learning.

2. Clearly establish the expectations and mechanics for virtual discussions.

This advice applies to any learning activity, of course, but in this case it's important to attend to the unique aspects of the virtual format. Do you want students to use the "raise hand" feature to be called on? If not, should they identify themselves verbally before speaking? Even basic expectations such as self-muting can make virtual discussions go much more smoothly.

If a class meeting involves a mix of lecture and discussion, cue that shift explicitly, set a time frame, and let students know the specific goals of the discussion at hand. For example, do you want them to interpret a dataset? Should they aim to get a sense of how the class reacted to a reading? Or, will students pitch and critique solutions to a problem they've explored? If students don't need to spend too much cognitive bandwidth on figuring out how to participate, the quality, frequency, and enthusiasm of their participation will rise dramatically.

3. Thoughtfully call on students to make for a more inclusive discussion.

Wait time is a useful teaching technique, but extended silences can sap the class's energy, especially in virtual environments. Prepare students to expect that you'll call on them, but in a way that is flexible and kind. Providing questions and prompts ahead of time makes calling on students feel less like an intimidating pop quiz and more like an extension of the thinking they've already begun.

While students may perceive that they don't have anything to say, templates or guiding questions make visible the diverse ways of contributing, for example, " What seems unclear about X is...," "This reminds me of Y because...," "I'm not sure but I think the first step is Z." Discussions feel the most authentic when instructors acknowledge students' ideas, weave them into the main discussion, and call back to them later when relevant. It's also important for this approach to allow students to pass in the moment or indicate privately that they'd prefer not to speak.

4. Make space for all student voices.

Most video platforms allow for a text-based chat option as a sort of "public backchannel." Let students know if you'll check the chat for comments and questions. In terms of class management, written comments allow more students to participate at a given time, leading to a richer and more layered discussion. Students can scroll back to reread important ideas or catch up if they had to step away for a moment.

If attending to multiple channels of communication feels overwhelming, you can request chat participation at specific times instead of constantly monitoring throughout the meeting. Other cloud-based platforms such as the Google Suite or Office365 can provide a collaborative space for thinking during a discussion, and you can use the ideas articulated in these spaces as a jumping off point for further conversation, or to ask students to reflect on what they've done.

5. Recruit help in managing the virtual space.

It's normal to feel intimidated by the amount of information to track during a virtual discussion. If you're lucky enough to have a TA, they can help by monitoring the participants and chat window, bringing things to your attention at the right moment or preemptively responding to questions.

If you don't have a TA, this can be a rotating responsibility among the students themselves, perhaps articulated formally as part of their participation grade, with the secondary effect of fostering communal rapport and advocacy among peers. Boosting the signal of a peer's question or comment, perhaps with additional thoughts, provides students with additional opportunities for meaningful participation. It also encourages them to practice embedding their thoughts and questions in a larger context, a key skill for research and research-based communication.

6. Embrace forms of participation that do not involve live video.

For many instructors, it's the real-time reactions, evident in people's faces and postures, that lends energy to a class discussion. By requiring live video, however, we are asking to insert ourselves into potentially private spaces. If a student feels self-conscious about their visible surroundings, they may feel less comfortable contributing to the discussion. We may look to video as evidence of students staying on task, but we also know that attention is a slippery concept, and that "Zoom fatigue" can manifest as a variety of negative psychological impacts (Conatser 2017, Supiano 2020, Jiang 2020). Video may also overload a student's bandwidth if their equipment and connection are not ideal.

It's important to acknowledge these considerations and discuss expectations for video participation with students, especially if it feels integral to your pedagogy (Davidson 2020). Find other ways to assess engagement such as polling questions or breakout activities. You may tell students that it's okay to deactivate their video, but you'll still expect them to respond verbally if called upon, to contribute actively in the chat, and so on.

7. Do some thinking in advance and require your students to do the same.

When preparing for a virtual discussion, take time to mentally walk through the learning objectives, driving questions, and key takeaways. Students flounder in the face of poorly articulated questions or unexpected shifts of activities.

Students may submit their own questions in advance or provide commentary that can serve as a jumping-off point for discussion. More sustained reflections might be rotated among smaller groups of students in the form of blog or discussion board posts. Rather than face the pressure of coming up with an idea off the cuff, students build from their own and others' thinking. Templates and discussion stems (e.g., Graff and Birkenstein's They Say, I Say) help students find context for their ideas in relation to others. If discussion activities would benefit from written instructions, provide them in easy-to-access ways, especially if you're using small groups.

8. Use small groups and breakout rooms to engage students in collaborative learning.

Especially for larger classes, small group discussions allow students to negotiate their own understanding of the content. They also can make your classes more inclusive (Hogan and Sathy 2020). While the instructor cannot observe all groups at once in a virtual meeting, they might use cloud-based workspaces to track students' progress. For example, groups might take notes on different pages of a Google Doc or collect data on separate tabs in a Google Sheet. These apps often include a chat feature where they ask questions or make observations for everyone to see.

You can drop into the breakout rooms to check on individual conversations, or scan the collaboration space for groups that may need assistance. Overall, small group discussions are more focused when they have goals or deliverables, even if it's something low-stakes or informal. As always, include instructions that make the process and expectations clear.
Jill Abney is a faculty instructional consultant at the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching and a part-time instructor in the department of history at the University of Kentucky. Trey Conatser is the associate director of the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching at the University of Kentucky, where he also teaches courses on pedagogy, writing, and digital humanities. Reference list and further reading:
Bernhard, Meg. " In Assigning Group Work to Students, Designing the Group Comes First." Chronicle of Higher Education, 6 July 2015. https://www.chronicle.com/article/in-assigning-group-work-to-students-designing-the-group-comes-first/.

Brookfield, Stephen. Discussions as a Way of Teaching: Tools and Techniques for Democratic Classrooms. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, 2005.

Conatser, Trey. "The Apparition of These Screens in the Crowd." Greater Faculties: A Review of Teaching and Learning. 1, no. 8 (2017). https://uknowledge.uky.edu/greaterfaculties/vol1/iss1/8.

Davidson, Cathy. "Cameras Optional, Please! Remembering Students Lives as we Plan our Online Syllabus." HASTAC. 22 July 2020. https://www.hastac.org/blogs/cathy-davidson/2020/07/22/cameras-optional-please-remembering-student-lives-we-plan-our-online.

Hogan, Kelly A. and Viji Sathy. "8 Ways to be More Inclusive in your Zoom Teaching." Chronicle of Higher Education. 7 April, 2020. https://www.chronicle.com/article/8-Ways-to-Be-More-Inclusive-in/248460.

Howard, Jay. "How to Hold a Better Class Discussion." Chronicle of Higher Education. 23 May 2019. https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/20190523-ClassDiscussion.

Jiang, Manyu. "Video chat is helping us stay employed and connected. But what Makes it so tiring - and how can we reduce 'Zoom Fatigue'?" BBC 22 April 2020. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200421-why-zoom-video-chats-are-so-exhausting.

Simon, Edwige. "10 Tips for Effective Online Discussions." Educause Review, 21 November 2018, https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2018/11/10-tips-for-effective-online-discussions.

Supiano, Becki. "Why is Zoom so Exhausting?" Chronicle of Higher Education. 23 April 2020. https://www.chronicle.com/article/Why-Is-Zoom-So-Exhausting-/248619.

Wong, Crystal. "A Four-Step Plan: The First Day of Class on Zoom, Faculty Focus, 5 August, 2020. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/a-four-step-plan-the-first-day-of-class-on-zoom/.

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How to Make Your Virtual Discussions Engaging, Effective, and Equitable in Eight Steps

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Make your online discussions more effective and full of quality by understanding social, emotional, and intellectual dynamics.

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Increasing Student Participation in Online Discussions

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Increasing Student Participation in Online Discussions

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Dozens of studies have come to the same conclusion: online discussions strengthen student engagement and learning. But what can you do to increase student participation in online discussions? We've been doing some studying of our own and found a dozen tactics that will help you get students more involved in online discussions.

Why online discussions are essential to the learning experience

Discussions give students the opportunity to reflect upon and apply what they've learned. Writing about what they're learning helps them retain that knowledge. During a discussion, they recall information, put it into context, and ask questions that require them and their classmates to review what they've learned. Recalling and applying information is part of the learning process-it's required to make learning stick.

Online discussions also give students a chance to interact with each other and build relationships. A sense of community develops-a motivating factor when the going gets tough.

How to increase student participation in online discussions

See how many of these proven tactics you can use in your online learning programs.

#1: Embed online discussion into course design.

Discussions must be built into the course design and tied to learning objectives. The instructor must ensure that meaningful conversation takes place. Discussion topics and questions must be aligned with the curriculum.

#2: Explain why participation is required.

Participation in online discussions should be mandatory. Take time to explain to students why online discussions are an essential part of the learning experience -how they provide continual opportunities to reflect, recall, and apply new knowledge.

Tell students how they'll be evaluated on their discussion contributions and how online community participation factors into their grade.

Acknowledge the time constraints experienced by full-time professionals who take online courses. Suggest a baseline amount of time to dedicate to online discussions. Provide tips for time management.

Keep in mind that students must be intrinsically motivated to engage fully in their learning experience. Studies show that those who aren't intrinsically motivated tend to lose interest in discussions as the course goes on.

#3: Require quality, not quantity.

A common default for online discussions is requiring each student to start a discussion thread every week. However, this practice leads to a cluttered forum. You'll end up with too many redundant discussion threads of questionable value-a real turn-off.

Instead, consider requiring a specified number of thoughtful remarks either in initial posts or responses.

#4: Provide feedback to everyone.

Keep track of thoughtful or insightful questions and comments, especially if online discussion participation is required. Send a private positive message to students who make valuable contributions.

On the other hand, when students aren't putting enough effort into their contributions, send them a private message too. Share your observations and provide some advice on how to better approach the discussion requirement. Take time to provide individual (and private) coaching until they get the hang of it.

Provide public feedback as well. But, to ensure you're not playing favorites, keep track of your accolades so you don't create an unintentional teacher's pet.

#5: Don't worry about introverts.

Studies have found that more students participate in online discussions than they do in classroom discussions, even introverts. However, some people still prefer to lurk in online forums. They're more likely to be passive participants who are happy to read but not comment. If you spot a stubborn lurker, explain to them that this tendency inhibits their learning experience-and affects their grade.

#6: Provide guidelines for constructive conversation.

Post discussion guidelines in the online community, for example, ask students to respond thoughtfully and ask open-ended questions. Encourage students to have constructive and considerate disagreement. Explain the value of diverse perspectives. It's okay to challenge and disagree with each other but only if it's done in a kind manner.

#7: Foster but don't dominate discussion.

At the beginning of a course, online discussion tends to be between the instructor(s) and students. But as the course progresses, students increasingly talk to each other instead of only to the instructor(s).

However, if conversation is lagging, try one of these tactics:

Pose an open-ended yet specific question.

Give them a prompt to follow up on.

Do a poll and discuss the results.

Try asking the question in a different way.

If none of these approaches work, acknowledge the lack of conversation and ask students why they think that is.

#8: Assign student moderators.

After a few weeks of taking the lead, assign the moderator role to one or more students, depending on class size. Their job is to encourage and facilitate conversation. Let them choose which topics or forums they want to moderate on a first-come, first-served basis.

Provide guidelines to your student moderators, for example, check the community X times a day, and post at least X number of questions and X number of responses. If there's more than one moderator, ask them to split up the days so they have time off during the week.

Chime in throughout the week so students don't feel like you've checked out on them, but be careful not to steal their thunder. Provide feedback to the moderators as they go.

Assigning student moderators has a positive impact on the learning experience:

Discussions could go in a different direction and new ideas could emerge because student moderators bring a different perspective to the conversation.

Students who have been or will be assigned the moderator role are more likely to participate in discussions because they empathize with the moderator or hope they'll pay back the favor.

Moderators feel a sense of ownership-a motivating emotion.

#9: Stir up a little controversy every now and then.

If things get too quiet or if everyone is too agreeable, say something that elicits disagreement or gets students to argue for the opposing viewpoint.

Find a hot topic-a news item or industry development-and have students debate it. Split them into two groups. One side puts forth an argument and the other side responds with an opposing argument.

#10: Have a place for off-topic conversations.

Don't be all business. Personal conversations help students build relationships and a sense of community. This sense of belonging is a motivating factor for continuing discussion participation as time goes on. Also, if students don't have an opportunity to socialize, they might go off-topic in the course discussion forums.

You could call your forum for off-topic discussions the Student Lounge, Break Room, or Water Cooler. Use this forum for initial introductions. Seed a new conversation by asking students to share time management hacks.

#11: Invite guests.

Invite a guest expert to visit the online community for a few days. Prepare a running Q&A session or interview by fielding questions from students ahead of time. Encourage students to ask additional questions during the guest's stay. Point out any conversations in the personal forum that the guest might want to dive into.

#12: Bring the discussion back into the "classroom."

At the end of each module, review some of the issues and themes that emerged from online discussions. You could do this as a weekly video. Provide suggestions for related content if students want to go deeper on a topic.

Students come to your association for education, but everyone also values networking and relationship-building-that's one of the top reasons members join associations. An online community enhances the student's learning experience while also giving them the chance to connect with their peers.

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12 Ways to Increase Student Participation in Online Discussions

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Learn how to increase student participation in online discussions. Discussions give students the opportunity to reflect upon and apply what they've learned.

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TILT Higher Ed

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TILT Higher Ed

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Effective Discussion Prompts for Online Discussion Boards

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https://www.depts.ttu.edu/tlpdc/Resources/Teaching_resources/TLPDC_teaching_resources/CreatingEffectiveAssignments.php

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Assessment is a necessary part of the teaching and learning process, helping us measure whether our students have really learned what we want them to learn. While exams and quizzes are certainly favorite and useful methods of assessment, out of class assignments (written or otherwise) can offer similar insights into our students' learning. And just as creating a reliable test takes thoughtfulness and skill, so does creating meaningful and effective assignments. Undoubtedly, many instructors have been on the receiving end of disappointing student work, left wondering what went wrong... and often, those problems can be remedied in the future by some simple fine-tuning of the original assignment. This paper will take a look at some important elements to consider when developing assignments, and offer some easy approaches to creating a valuable assessment experience for all involved.
First Things First...
Before assigning any major tasks to students, it is imperative that you first define a few things for yourself as the instructor:

Your goals for the assignment. Why are you assigning this project, and what do you hope your students will gain from completing it? What knowledge, skills, and abilities do you aim to measure with this assignment? Creating assignments is a major part of overall course design, and every project you assign should clearly align with your goals for the course in general. For instance, if you want your students to demonstrate critical thinking, perhaps asking them to simply summarize an article is not the best match for that goal; a more appropriate option might be to ask for an analysis of a controversial issue in the discipline. Ultimately, the connection between the assignment and its purpose should be clear to both you and your students to ensure that it is fulfilling the desired goals and doesn't seem like "busy work." For some ideas about what kinds of assignments match certain learning goals, take a look atthis page from DePaul University's Teaching Commons.

The levels of your students. What do your students already know, and what can they do when they enter your class? Knowing what your students are (or are NOT) bringing to the table can help you tailor the assignment appropriately for their skill levels, for an assignment that is too challenging can frustrate students or cause them to shut down, while an assignment that is not challengingenough can lead to a lack of motivation. Knowing your students' levels will help you determine how much direction to provide for them as well. Some abilities you might want to investigate include:

Have they experienced "socialization" in the culture of your discipline (Flaxman, 2005)? Are they familiar with any conventions you might want them to know? In other words, do they know the "language" of your discipline, generally accepted style guidelines, or research protocols?

Do they know how to conduct research? Do they know the proper style format, documentation style, acceptable resources, etc.? Do they know how to use the library (Fitzpatrick, 1989) or evaluate resources?

What kinds of writing or work have they previously engaged in? For instance, have they completed long, formal writing assignments or research projects before? Have they ever engaged in analysis, reflection, or argumentation? Have they completed group assignments before? Do they know how to write a literature review or scientific report?

In his book Engaging Ideas (1996), John Bean provides a great list of questions to help instructors focus on their main teaching goals when creating an assignment (p.78):

1. What are the main units/modules in my course?

2. What are my main learning objectives for each module and for the course?

3. What thinking skills am I trying to develop within each unit and throughout the course?

4. What are the most difficult aspects of my course for students?

5. If I could change my students' study habits, what would I most like to change?

6. What difference do I want my course to make in my students' lives?
What your students need to know
Once you have determined your own goals for the assignment and the levels of your students, you can begin creating your assignment. However, when introducing your assignment to your students, there are several things you will need to clearly outline for them in order to ensure the most successful assignments possible.

First, you will need to articulate the purpose of the assignment. Even though you know why the assignment is important and what it is meant to accomplish, you cannot assume that your students will intuit that purpose. Your students will appreciate an understanding of how the assignment fits into the larger goals of the course and what they will learn from the process (Hass & Osborn, 2007). Being transparent with your students and explaining why you are asking them to complete a given assignment can ultimately help motivate them to complete the assignment more thoughtfully.

If you are asking your students to complete a writing assignment, you should define for them the "rhetorical or cognitive mode/s" you want them to employ in their writing (Flaxman, 2005). In other words, use precise verbs that communicate whether you are asking them to analyze, argue, describe, inform, etc. (Verbs like "explore" or "comment on" can be too vague and cause confusion.) Provide them with a specific task to complete, such as a problem to solve, a question to answer, or an argument to support. For those who want assignments to lead to top-down, thesis-driven writing, John Bean (1996) suggests presenting a proposition that students must defend or refute, or a problem that demands a thesis answer.

It is also a good idea to define the audience you want your students to address with their assignment, if possible - especially with writing assignments. Otherwise, students will address only the instructor, often assuming little requires explanation or development (Hedengren, 2004; MIT, 1999). Further, asking students to address the instructor, who typically knows more about the topic than the student, places the student in an unnatural rhetorical position. Instead, you might consider asking your students to prepare their assignments for alternative audiences such as other students who missed last week's classes, a group that opposes their position, or people reading a popular magazine or newspaper. In fact, a study by Bean (1996) indicated the students often appreciate and enjoy assignments that vary elements such as audience or rhetorical context, so don't be afraid to get creative!

Obviously, you will also need to articulate clearly the logistics or "business aspects" of the assignment. In other words, be explicit with your students about required elements such as the format, length, documentation style, writing style (formal or informal?), and deadlines. One caveat, however: do not allow the logistics of the paper take precedence over the content in your assignment description; if you spend all of your time describing these things, students might suspect that is all you care about in their execution of the assignment.

Finally, you should clarify your evaluation criteria for the assignment. What elements of content are most important? Will you grade holistically or weight features separately? How much weight will be given to individual elements, etc? Another precaution to take when defining requirements for your students is to take care that your instructions and rubric also do not overshadow the content; prescribing too rigidly each element of an assignment can limit students' freedom to explore and discover. According to Beth Finch Hedengren, "A good assignment provides the purpose and guidelines... without dictating exactly what to say" (2004, p. 27). If you decide to utilize a grading rubric, be sure to provide that to the students along with the assignment description, prior to their completion of the assignment.

A great way to get students engaged with an assignment and build buy-in is to encourage their collaboration on its design and/or on the grading criteria (Hudd, 2003). In his article "Conducting Writing Assignments," Richard Leahy (2002) offers a few ideas for building in said collaboration:

* Ask the students to develop the grading scale themselves from scratch, starting with choosing the categories.

* Set the grading categories yourself, but ask the students to help write the descriptions.

* Draft the complete grading scale yourself, then give it to your students for review and suggestions.
A Few Do's and Don'ts...
Determining your goals for the assignment and its essential logistics is a good start to creating an effective assignment. However, there are a few more simple factors to consider in your final design.
First, here are a few things you should do:

Do provide detail in your assignment description. Research has shown that students frequently prefer some guiding constraints when completing assignments (Bean, 1996), and that more detail (within reason) can lead to more successful student responses. One idea is to provide students with physicalassignment handouts, in addition to or instead of a simple description in a syllabus. This can meet the needs of concrete learners and give them something tangible to refer to. Likewise, it is often beneficial tomake explicit for students the process or steps necessary to complete an assignment, given that students - especially younger ones - might need guidance in planning and time management (MIT, 1999).

Do use open-ended questions. The most effective and challenging assignments focus on questions that lead students to thinking and explaining, rather than simple yes or no answers, whether explicitly part of the assignment description or in the brainstorming heuristics (Gardner, 2005).

Do direct students to appropriate available resources. Giving students pointers about other venues for assistance can help them get started on the right track independently. These kinds of suggestions might include information about campus resources such as the University Writing Center or discipline-specific librarians, suggesting specific journals or books, or even sections of their textbook, or providing them with lists of research ideas or links to acceptable websites.

Do consider providing models- both successful and unsuccessful models (Miller, 2007). These models could be provided by past students, or models you have created yourself. You could even ask students to evaluate the models themselves using the determined evaluation criteria, helping them to visualize the final product, think critically about how to complete the assignment, and ideally, recognize success in their own work.

Do consider including a way for students to make the assignment their own. In their study, Hass and Osborn (2007) confirmed the importance of personal engagement for students when completing an assignment. Indeed, students will be more engaged in an assignment if it is personally meaningful, practical, or purposeful beyond the classroom. You might think of ways to encourage students to tap into their own experiences or curiosities, to solve or explore a real problem, or connect to the larger community. Offering variety in assignment selection can also help students feel more individualized, creative, and in control.

If your assignment is substantial or long, do consider sequencing it. Far too often, assignments are given as one-shot final products that receive grades at the end of the semester, eternally abandoned by the student. By sequencing a large assignment, or essentially breaking it down into a systematic approach consisting of interconnected smaller elements (such as a project proposal, an annotated bibliography, or a rough draft, or a series of mini-assignments related to the longer assignment), you can encourage thoughtfulness, complexity, and thoroughness in your students, as well as emphasize process over final product.
Next are a few elements to avoid in your assignments:

Do not ask too many questions in your assignment. In an effort to challenge students, instructors often err in the other direction, asking more questions than students can reasonably address in a single assignment without losing focus. Offering an overly specific "checklist" prompt often leads to externally organized papers, in which inexperienced students "slavishly follow the checklist instead of integrating their ideas into more organically-discovered structure" (Flaxman, 2005).

Do not expect or suggest that there is an "ideal" response to the assignment. A common error for instructors is to dictate content of an assignment too rigidly, or to imply that there is a single correct response or a specific conclusion to reach, either explicitly or implicitly (Flaxman, 2005). Undoubtedly, students do not appreciate feeling as if they must read an instructor's mind to complete an assignment successfully, or that their own ideas have nowhere to go, and can lose motivation as a result. Similarly, avoid assignments that simply ask for regurgitation (Miller, 2007). Again, the best assignments invite students to engage in critical thinking, not just reproduce lectures or readings.

Do not provide vague or confusing commands. Do students know what you mean when they are asked to "examine" or "discuss" a topic? Return to what you determined about your students' experiences and levels to help you decide what directions will make the most sense to them and what will require more explanation or guidance, and avoid verbiage that might confound them.

Do not impose impossible time restraints or require the use of insufficient resources for completion of the assignment. For instance, if you are asking all of your students to use the same resource, ensure that there are enough copies available for all students to access - or at least put one copy on reserve in the library. Likewise, make sure that you are providing your students with ample time to locate resources and effectively complete the assignment (Fitzpatrick, 1989).
The assignments we give to students don't simply have to be research papers or reports. There are many options for effective yet creative ways to assess your students' learning! Here are just a few:
Journals, Posters, Portfolios, Letters, Brochures, Management plans, Editorials, Instruction Manuals, Imitations of a text, Case studies, Debates, News release, Dialogues, Videos, Collages, Plays, Power Point presentations
Conclusion
Ultimately, the success of student responses to an assignment often rests on the instructor's deliberate design of the assignment. By being purposeful and thoughtful from the beginning, you can ensure that your assignments will not only serve as effective assessment methods, but also engage and delight your students. If you would like further help in constructing or revising an assignment, the Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development Center is glad to offer individual consultations. In addition, look into some of the resources provided below.
Online Resources "Creating Effective Assignments"
http://www.unh.edu/teaching-excellence/resources/Assignments.htm"Learner-Centered Assessment"
http://cte.uwaterloo.ca/teaching_resources/tips/learner_centered_assessment.html
From the Centre for Teaching Excellence at the University of Waterloo, this is a short list of suggestions for the process of designing an assessment with your students' interests in mind.
"Matching Learning Goals to Assignment Types."
http://teachingcommons.depaul.edu/How_to/design_assignments/assignments_learning_goals.html
This is a great page from DePaul University's Teaching Commons, providing a chart that helps instructors match assignments with learning goals.
This site, from the University of New Hampshire's Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, provides a brief overview of effective assignment design, with a focus on determining and communicating goals and expectations.
Gardner, T. (2005, June 12). Ten Tips for Designing Writing Assignments. Traci's Lists of Ten. http://www.tengrrl.com/tens/034.shtml
This is a brief yet useful list of tips for assignment design, prepared by a writing teacher and curriculum developer for the National Council of Teachers of English. The website will also link you to several other lists of "ten tips" related to literacy pedagogy.

"How to Create Effective Assignments for College Students."
http:// tilt.colostate.edu/retreat/2011/zimmerman.pdf
This PDF is a simplified bulleted list, prepared by Dr. Toni Zimmerman from Colorado State University, offering some helpful ideas for coming up with creative assignments.

Additional References
Bean, J.C. (1996). Engaging ideas: The professor's guide to integrating writing, critical thinking, and active learning in the classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Fitzpatrick, R. (1989). Research and writing assignments that reduce fear lead to better papers and more confident students. Writing Across the Curriculum, 3.2, pp. 15 - 24.

Flaxman, R. (2005). Creating meaningful writing assignments. The Teaching Exchange. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2008 from http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Sheridan_Center/pubs/teachingExchange/jan2005/01_flaxman.pdf

Hass, M. & Osborn, J. (2007, August 13). An emic view of student writing and the writing process. Across the Disciplines, 4.

Hedengren, B.F. (2004). A TA's guide to teaching writing in all disciplines. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Hudd, S. S. (2003, April). Syllabus under construction: Involving students in the creation of class assignments. Teaching Sociology, 31, pp. 195 - 202.

Leahy, R. (2002). Conducting writing assignments. College Teaching, 50.2, pp. 50 - 54.

Miller, H. (2007). Designing effective writing assignments. Teaching with writing. University of Minnesota Center for Writing. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2008, from http://writing.umn.edu/tww/assignments/designing.html

MIT Online Writing and Communication Center (1999). Creating Writing Assignments. Retrieved January 9, 2008 from http://web.mit.edu/writing/Faculty/createeffective.html.

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State of Texas and Texas Tech University

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How Do I Create Meaningful and Effective Assignments? | TLPDC Teaching Resources | Teaching Resources | TLPDC Home | TTU

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Create interactive video lessons and embed questions, quizzees or comments.

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https://kahoot.com/
Platform to integrate assignments into games.

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https://info.flip.com/en-us.html
This platform provides the ability to have a video discussion. Allows discusiion via text or videa. Looks more like social media vs traditional discussion board. feedback to their posts.

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Slotkuni : Situs Slot Gacor Gampang Menang, Resmi & Terpercaya

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Slotkuni adalah situs bermain slot online auto spin!, Permainan slot gacor terbaru 2025 yang Resmi & Terpercaya serta gampang jp maxwin setiap jam.

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A free platform for debating, discussing original ideas, improve arguments and debate. It is an interactive place where students can discuss.