Online Non-Discussions

by Sharon Warkentin Short

            One of the strengths of online education that especially attracts me is its potential to stimulate deep interactions between professors and students and among the students themselves. When class time is not restricted to the several hours a week during which students and instructor gather in a college classroom, good discussion does not have to end because a bell rings. The conversation can keep going as long as anyone has anything to add. Furthermore, students do not need to feel frustrated because other students’ questions are using up valuable minutes. Individual students’ concerns and requests can be handled via private emails without taking away any time from the presentation of course content, and confused students can ask for clarification as many times as they need to. Finally, students who are not good at speaking “off the cuff,” or who feel self-conscious about speaking up in a class setting, can formulate their contributions in writing and can take as much time as they need to present clearly what they want to say.

            However, it occurred to me recently—to my surprise—that this very advantage of online education might also work against student participation in meaningful discussions. Precisely because learners and teachers are not present together in the same physical space, professors are not able to call on reluctant respondents in the same way that they might in a traditional classroom. Students are insulated in cyberspace from the looks and prompts that a professor might use to get them to speak up. Similarly, because they are not sitting together in the same room, students do not feel the awkward silences that can ensue when nobody attempts to answer a professor’s questions. When a course is presented via the internet, the non-responsiveness and the silences can go on for days!

            How can online instructors compensate for the absence of these incentives to get students involved in meaningful dialogue? Several suggestions come to mind:

1. Professors can still call on students through personal emails, encouraging them to add their ideas to the ongoing discussions. “I’d like to hear what you think” could be just as motivating if stated in an email as stated in a classroom.
2. Instructors can set a pattern of positively acknowledging every contribution without dominating the discussion. A simple “Thanks for sharing that thought” or “Good question! What do the rest of you say?” lets the respondents know that someone is actually reading the dialogue and appreciates their efforts.
3. Establishing a series of deadlines for responses might help to keep conversation moving. A professor might remind the group, “By Tuesday at midnight we need one idea from each of you about this topic.” Then several more deadlines could be set for responses to the initial items.

            Instructors do have some leverage when students are being graded on the frequency and quality of their input, but even so, stimulating genuine communication among online course participants is relentlessly hard work. The very structure that enables students to participate whenever they choose from wherever they happen to be also allows them hide from instructors and classmates alike, and to safely not participate in the discussions at all. This reality presents a new and unexpected challenge for online educators.