What are the most effective ways to manage online discussions in a lecture?

To set clear expectations l will specify expectations regarding frequency of participation, quality of contributions, and interaction with peers and consider staggering deadlines to encourage sustained engagement throughout the duration of the discussion.

Well, online discussion might be a great tool, especially when we talk about engaging students in a teaching and learning environment, however, there is a need to set limitations, and expectations. I recall when I did one of my degrees, were were asked to act according to a specific personality (the traits of that personality given to us) each week, so, we will be passive in one week towards any discussion, the week after we would be aggressive and it was extremely engaging exercise. Furthermore, the students would be more engaged if such discussions were related to the topic, and are marked... All the best.

Définir des attentes claires revient aussi après la formulation des objectifs SMART et les résultats attendus, de découper l'activité en tâches spécifiques et limitées dans le temps avec des évaluations (évaluation par les pairs avec des critères de performance clairs) à mi parcours. Après chaque étape, l'on fait le point et responsabilise les apprenants pour produire une synthèse à mi parcours. Celle-ci peut prendre la forme d'un podcast, d'une carte mentale, d'un texte écrit...etc. L'on veillera à ce que chacun ait une responsabilité à chaque étape pour plus d'implication et collaboration.

To manage online discussions in a lecture, you have to set clear expectations. This is so that your learners know what to expect at the end of the lecture. You should set clear rules and guidelines as to what they can and cannot do. This is so that they wouldn't end up breaking your rules. You should make sure that your learners are only discussing lessons and not doing their own things. This is because it's hard to control them when it's online.

To effectively manage online discussions in a lecture, establish clear guidelines for participation, encourage diverse perspectives, and use a designated platform for communication. Set expectations for respectful and constructive dialogue. Moderation is crucial to address off-topic or inappropriate comments promptly. Encourage active participation through polls, Q&A sessions, and breakout discussions. Foster a sense of community by acknowledging valuable contributions. Provide concise instructions and utilize visual aids to enhance understanding. Regularly summarize key points and address common concerns. Lastly, ensure technical support is available to address any issues, creating a seamless online learning experience.

To use diverse and relevant prompts we can create continuity and depth in the online discussion forum over time and clearly explain the purpose of each prompt, the expected outcomes, and any relevant guidelines or criteria for participation.

Diverse Prompt Types: 1. Open-ended questions: Encourage critical thinking and multiple perspectives. For example, "How does this concept apply to real-world situations?" 2. Challenging questions: Push students beyond surface-level understanding. Ask, "What are the strengths and weaknesses of this argument?" 3. Personal reflection prompts: Connect theory to personal experiences. "How has this topic impacted your own thinking or behavior?" 4. Application-oriented prompts: Encourage practical application of knowledge. "How can this concept be used to solve a specific problem?" 5. Creative prompts: Foster divergent thinking and new ideas. "Imagine a world where this concept is the norm. What would it look like?"

To make the session more connected and embroiled,lead in will play a vital role-where the prompts will work as a curtain lifter to the disciples.Moreover,the topic must be appealing and compelling for the learners. In simple words,each person could speak about the topic. I recall a workshop where some female students were given promots about Olympic games ,and,they were asked to debate on games but they were unable to participate in discussion as they had no knowledge about it. To encapsulate,your subject and prompts must be in all learners aporoach-immersed with day to day experience.

According to me, quality of online discussions hinges greatly on the caliber of prompts utilized to spark and maintain engagement. Employing diverse, relevant, and open-ended prompts fosters a multifaceted exchange, connecting course content with learners' experiences while promoting higher-order thinking. By incorporating prompts that prompt analysis, evaluation, and application of concepts, as well as inviting comparisons, sharing opinions, or proposing solutions, discussions become enriched with varied perspectives and depth.

Here are some ways to enhance online discussions: 1.Establish clear guidelines. Set expectations for participation, including respectful communication etc. 2. Choose the right platform, Use a platform conducive to discussions. 3. **Define discussion topics**: Clearly outline discussion topics or questions to focus participants' contributions and keep the conversation on track. 4. Encourage participation**: Prompt active engagement by asking open-ended questions, inviting diverse perspectives, and acknowledging contributions. 5. Moderate effectiveness . 6. **Promote inclusivity**: Encourage participation from all members, foster an inclusive environment, and ensure diverse voices

To facilitate and monitor the discussion we can highlight connections between ideas and encourage further exploration of related topics and provide opportunities for self-assessment and goal-setting to foster metacognitive awareness.

In my opinion, As an instructor, your role in online discussions is pivotal yet nuanced; while facilitating and monitoring discussions, it's essential not to overshadow or micromanage them. Striking a balance between involvement and allowing learners to take ownership fosters a dynamic exchange where knowledge is co-constructed. You can guide discussions by posing follow-up questions, offering feedback, summarizing key insights, and introducing diverse perspectives or resources.

An instructor should always facilitate and monitor the discussions. This is to prevent any unwanted things from happening. If you don't facilitate the discussions, they might steer away from the original topic of discussion. You should always intervene once in a while when they are a bit off the topic or if they start to have a little bit of misunderstanding with each other. You should also monitor the discussions. This is so that you can see their progress in the discussions. And, if they understand the topic or not.

Teacher´s role during online discussions is becoming a guide on the side. To succeed, obtaining immediate feedback from students´activity is crucial. It helps a lot using a software that brings me back students´performance during team work when I put them in small groups. When teams report their work simultaneously and online, I can immediately start facilitating the discussion as I know which are each team answers. It is also interesting that this peer to peer instruction allow students to solve 85% of their doubts, so I just have to facilitate discussion about few questions and I can concentrate on students´ concerns.

Facilitating the discussion is an important component of an online discussion. Setting the tone, at the very outset besides making the objectives clear should also be highlighted. One major focus that should be very clearly specified is the online etiquette that needs to be adhered to, during the course of the session.

To use different tools and strategies we can use rubric to develop clear rubrics or guidelines for assessing online discussion participation based on criteria such as depth of analysis, engagement with peers, critical thinking, and clarity of communication .

En fonction de la plateforme et du mode de votre cours en ligne, vous pouvez utiliser différents outils et stratégies pour améliorer la discussion en ligne. Par exemple, si vous utilisez une plateforme synchrone, telle que Zoom ou Teams, vous pouvez utiliser des fonctionnalités telles que les salles de répartition, les sondages ou le chat pour créer des groupes plus petits, recueillir des commentaires ou stimuler l’interaction.

Tools like Nearpod bring interaction into the online session. Switching up the content style with brain breaks and mini knowledge checks. Its so important that online learning does not involve the very thing we are trying to move away from in the classroom - passive learning. Talking at the students is not an optimum learning environment - interactive learning is key.

Desde mi experiencia recurro a herramientas asincrónicas como Google Classroom donde se permite la participación de los estudiantes a través de un foro de discusión a partir de la lectura de un documento conforme a la temática abordada. Allí también se propicia la colaboración con los aportes que hacen los compañeros frente a las diferentes intervenciones.

I agree with the aforementioned, and would add that asking participants to use the chat as a way of communicating their thoughts and feelings with emojis and GIFs is a great way to get an easy entry point, and then calling on speakers to share additional context behind what they shared can strategically elevate or elicit specific responses the facilitator wants to have added context.

By encouraging students to reflect on their own participation and set goals for future discussions based on feedback received and emphasizing the importance of participation, active listening, and respectful communication in fostering a supportive online learning community.

You should always provide feedback and recognition to your learners. This is to help them to improve and to give them moral support. You have to evaluate them. Once you have done that, you should then give them your feedback. This is so that they can better themselves. Recognition is important in boosting the confidence of your learners. If they feel confident, they would be more motivated to continue with the lessons.

Idealmente, uma palestra online não contaria com comentários negativos ou inapropriados, mas censurá-los ou ignorá-los pode não ser o melhor caminho. Você pode usá-los como ilustrações didáticas sobre o porquê esses comentários deveriam ser evitados e ampliar para que os demais participantes possam opinar, ouvindo feedbacks e percebendo se o alinhamento inicial ficou claro e se a sua moderação da discussão foi adequada.

In order to monitor and evaluate online discussions, I can recommend you a very useful tool. It is a social annotation platform named Perusall. It allows to evaluate contributions by analyzing their relevance using AI. The system grades each participant contribution attributing 0 when contribution is insufficient, 1 when it is fair and 2 when it is specially useful. Some teachers participate in these discussions, other prefer letting students interact without adding comments. It is a tool that can be used to introduce new materials and get the prework done as its social hook works very well.

💫I believe online discussions are the best way to discuss issues at hand. For instance, face-to-face discussions might intimidate or make people nervous, which is not the case in an online format.

Me parece importante destacar que la discusión es una herramienta didáctica muy importante. En mi experiencia personal la utilizo de dos formas. La primera planteo el tema a la cátedra y dejo que cualquier alumno tome la postura que crea necesaria en esta discusión, de esta forma cada uno da su punto de vista fundamentado y comienza a producirse el debate. La segunda, divido la catedra en dos, tres o la cantidad necesaria de grupos para la discusión, y yo como profesor les planteo el punto de vista con que debe encarar la discusión cada grupo, estén de acuerdo o no. Creo que las dos formas son muy efectivas y útiles al momento de encarar una discusión en clase.

Use platforms that allow easy moderation, such as forums with thread functionalities to organize conversations. Encourage active participation by posing open and stimulating questions. Diversify interaction formats, such as polls and small group discussion rooms, to maintain engagement. Provide constructive and timely feedback. Finally, incorporate student contributions into synchronous sessions, valuing their perspectives and reinforcing the practical application of the concepts discussed. And most importantly, don't try to be both pilot and co-pilot at the same time. Have someone assisting during the broadcast.

Managing online discussions is challenging, you want to know all opinions and the time is limited, so there's simple way for giving all people chance which us the chatting box, but at the same time you need to read all massages, classifying them , put same ideas or questions together, and then classifying in to different ideas/opinions, then read each idea loudly to be discussed. The difficult part is that when you have many different ideas, this will need more time. Your interactive presentation need to expect questions and answer them which will save time and effort of discussion