Help for Students in the Discussion Forum and Written Assignments

Only as high as I can reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I can look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be (Ravn, 2012).

The Discussion Forum is the center for excitement in the online learning environment.  For students who thrill to learn from sharing ideas, inspire thought, and build a developmental database of experience, the discussion forum is an actualized paradise of an intellectual and utopian Shangri - La (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2012).  For others, it can be a seeming emotional maze and nightmare from which there seems to be no escape.   The task of OFTF, particularly in first year and introductory classes, is to manage for both; the excited and the anxious.  

The following is a strategic approach to familiarize students with routine tasks in the discussion forum while simultaneously preparing students for written assignments.

In Christian Worldview Class, students are directed to provide relevant and substantive responses to discussion questions and other student responses in the discussion forum (Merriam - Webster Online Dictionary, 2012).  Substantive responses for the purposes of the discussion forum means writing intentional, well thought out, and appropriately detailed developed responses to discussion questions and other student responses.  Students must say something significant and essential giving evidence of thought engagement in the question.  The goal is to make a written statement of response that is relevant and that contributes to the continuing discussion taking place.  

To prepare students for written assignments, providing specific format to assist in responding to discussion questions and posting participation responses to other students can prove to be a viable asset.   The approach is tantamount to coloring inside the lines writing to format for discussion questions and subsequently to the syllabus' assignment directions.

I consistently direct the use of this format.  It is built on the example of personal experience.

Format for Responding to Discussion Questions

Step Number One - Always use the language in the question to form your response leading to the conclusion of your opening sentences.

Sample Discussion Question

Do you believe the Bible to be the literal word of God?  Why or why not?

Response

Example:  I was taught to believe the Bible to be literally the Word of God.  It is the tradition of my family to believe this.  We were taught to believe this by our church.

Step Number Two - Indicate the why of the position you taken in next sentences.

Example:  My family historically is spiritually conservative.  The church I grew up in thinks themselves to be spiritually superior.  You can't go to heaven without belonging to the church I grew up in.

Step Number Three - Indicate why what you have said should be important to all who will read what you have written.

Example:  People who knew us and families attending our church disliked us.  They knew the adults in our church believed they were better than people of the unsaved churches.  The adults of our church believed we were the ones, the only ones going to heaven.

Step Number Four - Make sure to conclude your substantive post, meaning you have made a significant and meaningful statement of response to the question, with a question of your own raised back to the class.  Your post should at a minimum be 120 - 150 words.

Example:  What might be written in the Bible to suggest to some that the way they interpret the Bible is the one and only true way to interpret it?  What in the Bible might suggest to them they alone will go to heaven?

Note the flow of the complete example response.

I was taught to believe the Bible to be literally the Word of God.  It is the tradition of my family to believe this.  We were taught to believe this by our church.

My family historically is spiritually conservative.  The church I grew up in thinks themselves to be spiritually superior.  You can't go to heaven without belonging to the church I grew up in.

People who knew us and families attending our church disliked us.  They knew the adults in our church believed they were better than people of the unsaved churches.  The adults of our church believed we were the ones, the only ones going to heaven.

What might be written in the Bible to suggest to some that the way they interpret the Bible is the one and only true way to interpret it?  What in the Bible might suggest to them they alone will go to heaven?

Following this format represents a substantive post.  Simultaneously students are empowered to model for themselves a strategic approach to prepare to color inside the lines following the syllabus' directions for written assignments.

Initially for some this represents an entirely new and different way of thinking and writing.  By end of Module Two, 70% of class will have the process.  Others take a bit longer.  This concludes Part One.

References

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. (2012). Shangri-la. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shangri-la

Merriam - Webster Online Dictionary. (2012). Substantive. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/substantive

Ravn, K. (2012). Goodreads. Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/22639