Discussion Observations.
Students write differently when they write contribute to course discussion forums.
There’s a famous New Yorker cartoon, so famous that it has its own wikipedia page, of two dogs sitting in front of a computer. The dog with its paw on the keyboard says to his companion: “On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”
Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash
I’ve created and taught three asynchronous discussion-based online courses over the past five years, all in German studies, and I’ve noticed a few things about how students use and participate in the online discussions. As you read their posts during the term you actually do get to know them, contrary to the conceit of the cartoon, or at least you become acquainted with their course internet selves, which I think is fairly similar for the most part to their true selves. Like people in real life, some are more guarded whereas others let it all hang out; some always want to be the first to respond in a forum, and others prefer hanging back; some can be long-winded and others are quite terse; some know a lot about the topics we’re studying, though I’d say most are new to it all.
Anyways, some observations about how these diverse groups of students communicate in the discussion forums:
They’re very polite and affirming. They express admiration when someone writes something insightful, and when they disagree, they are very careful not to offend — they express disagreement very tentatively.
They’re somewhat colloquial in their speech, though probably not as colloquial as they would be in text messages and on Instagram. A few will try to be formal, as if they’re writing a term paper, but most ease into a conversational tone fairly quickly.
Many have difficulty being precise about names, dates, titles, facts and figures — the very things you want students to be precise about!
I teach German studies, and I’ve learned that for most people, the plural of Nazi isn’t Nazis but Nazi’s. I don’t know why the plural of Nazi attracts the greengrocer’s apostrophe with such a vengeance, but it does.
In discussions centred on particular readings or viewings, students always see something in the piece that I didn’t. Always.
Many students share a similar style when contributing to the discussions, which makes those with unique styles stand out even more.
A fair number of students express their thoughts more cogently in discussion forums than they do in the more formal writing pieces of the courses. With essays and term papers, students are perhaps more anxious or cautious; writing is hard, and they know they’re getting graded on it. So perhaps they feel, consciously or subconsciously, that they need to sound more knowledgeable and smarter, which trips them up if they don’t have the vocabulary and phrasing mastered. Discussion forums are less formal, allowing students to relax a bit and be more on point.
For Fall Term 2020 this blog will be exploring issues informing education during a pandemic. It is appearing as part of a graduate seminar on online teaching and learning. You can read more about the seminar or see the other posts.
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