DISCUSSION ONLINE

1
DISCUSSION ONLINE

• A Survey
• CMS102J, SUMMER, 2008
• N 19 of 20 responses
• 95 response rate

2
INSTRUCTIONS

• INSTRUCTIONS I am trying to learn how to make
  our online discussions as effective as possible.
  As you know, Alice Goodwin (TA) has been
  participating in the discussions and I have taken
  part as well. Please answer a few survey
  questions that may help me to know how you think
  about these discussions and what we can do to
  make them as good as possible for future classes.
  Please say what you really think. This will not
  effect your grade at all.

3
QUESTION 1 RESULTS

• Did you enjoy the course discussions?
• YES 84
• NO 0
• NOT SURE 16

4
QUESTION 2 RESULTS

• Did the discussion part of the course add to your
  learning?
• NO 16
• YES 79
• NOT SURE 5

5
QUESTION 3

• Was there any one thing that really helped you
  get into the discussions or one thing that
  detracted from your involvement in the
  discussions?
• Try to be specific and let us know what we can do
  to make it better next time we run discussions.

6
QUESTION 3 RESULTS

• The discussions helped me to see how other people
  feel and the fact that I didn't know them
  personally was important also because I couldn't
  put a personality to the post, which gave me a
  raw viewpoint that somehow seemed quite valuable.
  I was really interested in participating more in
  the discussions, but I was behind from the get
  go. Also, I don't really like taking courses in
  the summer, as they are too short. Reading a
  chapter a week, contemplating it, then writing
  about it coupled with other aspects of my life
  left little room to appreciate the work and input
  of others, as much as I would have liked.
  Unfortunately, a lot my time was spent on my own
  work. I would have really enjoyed the course
  better in the traditional 4-month time-frame (I
  remember saying the same thing last summer). I
  got the general feel from my classmates that they
  too were a bit overwhelmed, as the posts seemed
  to be lower than I would have expected. If
  suggestions are welcome, one comes to mind I
  think that if there were a couple less chapters
  to do and the discussion board was increased, it
  would have made for a livelier experience in this
  short session.
• For me, It seems like because everyone will be
  viewing it, I needed to make sure I was perfect
  with what I said. The pressure of trying to
  impress ther other people with your ideas makes
  it tricky sometimes, but not enough to really
  worry about.
• I actually liked that we all had little home
  pages so we could learn a little bit about
  eachother. Its nice to have a face to put to the
  person you are having a discussion with.
• I think that you and Alice helped me to think
  more about what the discussions were on. When
  another student would post first and then you and
  alice would respond with a question or a comment
  thats where it helped me to think more in depth.

7
QUESTION 3 RESPONSES

• Rather than leaving an open discussion board, I
  like that you posted many questions and responded
  quickly in order to keep the discussion rolling.
  Next time however, I would get rid of the "group
  discussion" space and just have one discussion
  board. The group discussion was not effective
  because it never took place (in my group at
  least).
• Once people started regularly responding to
  discussions, things seemed to move a long better.
  Personally, I'd never taken an online class and
  its was just such a different change from getting
  instant responses in class, to waiting hours or
  days for responses.
• Reading classmates' posts helped me get involved
  with discussions, but I felt like the opportunity
  only presented itself to respond when I had time.
  In other words, there wasn't a tangible
  requirement that I connect with or contact my
  classmates. I enjoy traditional classroom
  settings and missed the ability to phyiscally see
  and hear my peers. There's a connectedness that
  comes from being in the same room with people
  over time- even if you only smile and say hello
  to one another at the start of every class. I
  assume that if students had to respond to at
  least one person's post for a specified number of
  discussion questions, that might lead to a
  natural exchange between students.
• The content was enough to generate enthusiasm for
  me. The text is good. I like the CD interviews.
• One thing that detracted from my involvement was
  classmates lack of interest. Also, posts that I
  thought missed the point of a chapter.
• I would have put more thought into discussions if
  there weren't so many. It was difficult to start
  analyzing CI 2 while still writing the essay for
  CI 1. They should have been spread out because
  I would have liked feedback on the first before
  working on the second. (I do realize the time
  constraint of a seven week course).
• Possibly have the original threads due on
  Wednesday so there are 4 days for discussion.

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QUESTION 3 RESPONSES

• Nothing that I can think of now at least.
• I enjoyed the disucssion about the movie you've
  got mail. it was nice to discuss a different type
  of media
• The major thing that helped with discussions was
  the participation of others in the group.
  Reading their opinions helped to get my brain
  going.
• I feel that the class was very helpful for me to
  better understand communication styles. However,
  I do feel that it was hard for me to follow
  along, that was more myself becoming familiar
  with this form of communication, "practice makes
  perfect''. For the most part I greatly enjoyed
  the class and the discussions. Its defiantly a
  matter of self motivation that gets you through
  this class. I feel through reading the chapters
  on my own, I was able to apply them directly in
  my real life, as opposed to being "spoon fed" in
  a classroom where the classwork and assignments
  are less hands on, this all depends on you to be
  successful, and what you intend to do to get the
  work done, if you don't read you want know the
  material.
• I liked discussing topics we were going to write
  essays about such as both the CI. It was helpful
  to hear other peoples ideas and share my own to
  help shape a good.
• Well, it was very hard for me to participate in
  the discussion board because it was not my main
  concern, my main concern was engaging myself in
  the book and trying to learn the concepts and
  making sure I understood the assignments
  correctly so that I would complete it to the best
  of my knowledge. I engaged on all of the
  discussions but I admit I was a little late on a
  few of them because I feel that the discussion
  board should be 'free' discussions meaning that
  people who would like to participate should
  participate because not everyone is comfortable
  with posting their thoughts, just like if we were
  in a real classroom, some people would barely
  raise their hand because they do not want to
  share or are not comfortable with speaking out
  loud in front of the class so their peers could
  hear what their ideas are.
• I liked when the professor or the TA would reply
  to my post and that is the one thing that would
  make me want to participate in class discussions.
  

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QUESTION 3 RESPONSES

• I think I would have been more apt to engage
  myself in continued discussion if there were less
  discussion questions each week.
• As far as being detracted from my involvement--it
  was more on a personal level. I did not
  anticipate having to take on a third job this
  summer, which unfortunately left me with almost
  no down-time. When I ws able to get some time
  to myself, I did do the readings but my focus was
  moreso on completing the assignments due as
  opposed to jumping into a discussion.
• I did like the questions that were posed,
  however, and thought that the people who did
  contribute had some good points. Sometimes I
  found it difficult, or moreso time consuming to
  go back and try to see if anything I had written
  had a comment on it. It would be nice if
  Blackboard had a feature kind of like a Youve
  Got Mail announcement, only for comments (and
  maybe it does).
• I find group and class discussion over whelming.
  Sticking to just one form works better for me.

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QUESTION 4 AND RESULTS

• Did your comfort level in our discussions change
  over time?
• NOT SURE 11
• YES 58
• NO 32

11
QUESTION 5 RESULTS

• Did you find that you posted just to get the job
  done--to do your homework--or that, at least some
  of the time, you really got engaged in the
  discussion?
• I posted just to do my homework 32
• At least some of the time,
• I really got engaged in discussion 63
• NOT SURE 5

12
QUESTION 6

• Please write about this one. Is there anything
  the teacher and/or the teaching assistant (Alice
  Goodwin) could do that would make discussion
  better?

13
QUESTION 6

• Please write about this one. Is there anything
  the teacher and/or the teaching assistant (Alice
  Goodwin) could do that would make discussion
  better?

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QUESTION 6 RESPONSES

• There was nothing anyone could have done better.
  I wish everyone could have gotton to the
  disscussion board at the same time because I
  think it makes the discussion more colorful when
  there are more opinions. I also would have liked
  a little but more feed back on papers but it was
  a good course overall.
• The discussion went well, maybe you could add
  some examples of the information we were reading
  about or maybe some online articles. Like you
  did with the movie but for each week.
• I don't think there was anything that could have
  been improved upon by the instructors. I thought
  that excellent questions were posed to the
  students that required clarification and thought.
  Thanks to both Lenny and Alice, I have already
  stopped injecting my opinions in conversations
  with others, and it will work well for me.
• Both Lenny and Alice were great at responding to
  posts and facilitating the discussion. The only
  thing I would change, as I mentioned above, is
  the group discussion board, which is not
  necessary in my opinion.
• not really i liked the layout of the class
• This might be a limitation of Blackboard, but if
  there was a specified time that a chat room was
  open and Lenny and/or Alice were on it, I think
  that would spark more engaging discussion and
  really present the class with an opportunity to
  connect with one another. The discussions
  wouldn't be graded, as this would be a forum to
  exchange ideas about communication topics.
  Students could log in, ask question about the
  material, get feedback on their approach to essay
  assignments and generally just express how they
  feel they're doing in the course. This chat room
  might help the students engage more in the
  formal, discussion board posts.
• Hi Lenny and Alice,Overall, I do not think there
  was much you could have done to make the
  discussions better. I believe that the majority
  of it is just the fact that the course relies
  (relys?) on the class interaction and there's
  only so much you can do to get people engaged
  and/or motivated to post. I appreciated the fact
  that you commented on certain points of what
  people had to say and your questions were
  encouraging. I believe that personally, I had
  "problems" with the course, because I would log
  on and if one of you had responded to something I
  had written at another time, sometimes I would
  forget to go back and answer you. I realize that
  it would be near impossible to personally email
  all the students, but I did appreciate the
  efforts that were made.I actually wish I had
  taken this course in person only because the
  interaction part of it would have been easier to
  follow, as in knowing the tone of voice when
  someone speaks, facial expressions, etc.

15
QUESTION 6 RESPONSES

• I think that just more communication in the
  discussion boards other than that I learned a lot
  and enjoyed this course
• i think frankly that the format is a good format,
  however one of the drawbacks is that the
  discussion is not occurring instantaneously .
• Try to make sure everyone participates....the
  more people that post the better.I thought it was
  mandatory so I posted for all the topics on my
  group page...but not many other people did.
• I feel that the professor was very helpful, and
  willing to "adjust" and learn from what the
  students had to say. I feel that both the
  professor and Alice were active participants who
  were very diligent and made the class easier,
  especially with the speediness in responding to
  questions posted, or emails sent.
• The dsicussion that I thought was the most
  interesting was the one in which we discussed
  "You've Got Mail" and the internet related
  chapter after that. I think that those got the
  most response out of people and we had the most
  actual discussion and comparision of ideas in it
• Alice's comments seemed personal and relevant.
  They really added to coversations and enhanced
  what the students were trying to focus on.

16
QUESTION 6 RESPONSE

• First I would like to say like I said previously,
  discussion
• is great if people participate but there are some
  people
• who are not comfortable with other people reading
  their
• comments. I personally just did not keep track
  of it as
• often as I would have liked. I did not enjoy it
  as much.
• I would have to say I am not really sure how to
  make it
• better except for maybe having people freely post
  their
• thoughts and ideas on discussion board throughout
  the
• session that the course meets.
• I actually wish I had taken this course in person
  only because
• the interaction part of it would have been easier
• to follow, as in knowing the tone of voice when
• someone speaks, facial expressions, etc.
• You did a good job. Like I said above just one
  form
• Discussions would make things more manageable.