Volume Two - Academic Conferences

Designing Effective Online Group Discussions
Rowena Santiago 1 , Amy Leh 1 , and Minoru Nakayama 2
1
Science, Mathematics and Technology Education Department, California State
University, San Bernardino, USA
2
CRADLE, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
rsantiag@csusb.edu
aleh@csusb.edu
nakayama@cradle.titech.ac.jp
Abstract: Together with lectures, class discussions are mainstays of university teaching. Instructors engage their
students in class discussions to further interpret, analyze, evaluate, infer, reflect on or explain what is being
learned in class, in other words, to engage students in high-level thinking. Instructors are now turning to
technology (e.g., GoogleDocs, Blackboard) to enhance group discussions and to overcome traditional constraints
especially in large classes. However, when converting from face-to-face to online format, group discussions,
which are primarily student-student interactions, are the most difficult activities to design and implement (as
compared to student-teacher or student-content interactions). Failure to provide effective group discussions in
online classes adversely impacts the quality of online teaching and student learning. It then becomes imperative
that faculty learn how to design online group discussions effectively so that they can provide students with
successful high-level thinking experiences and increase the level of student engagement. The first part of this
paper will present the following: the rationale for the use of a faculty learning community to help faculty become
better designers of online group discussion activities, the process that was involved in the structuring of the
faculty learning community, and the set of instructional design guidelines that the FLC generated. The second
part of the paper will present the implementation results, including the SoTL (scholarship of teaching and
learning) integration that was carried out by one of the members of the faculty learning community. This includes
the improvements made to the original assignment activity as a result of peer review, what worked or didn’t work,
as indicated by the results of a student survey, and reflections for the next re-design. The paper will conclude
with a reflective summary of how results from the use of faculty learning community and the integration of SoTL
can contribute to designing effective online group discussions.
Keywords: online teaching, online group discussions, faculty learning community, scholarship of teaching and
learning, high-level thinking skills, faculty development
1. Introduction
Together with lectures, class discussions are a mainstay of university teaching. It is during class
discussions that opportunities for various types of student engagement (student-instructor, studentcontent,
student-student) can take place. When done as a group activity, class discussions can
provide opportunities for creating student learning communities under the guidance of the instructor
(Colorado State University, 2010). For many students, it is an opportunity to compare one’s
understanding of concepts and content with those of peers and even the instructor’s (University of
Pittsburgh, 2007). Further, class discussions can be used by the instructor to provide some
scaffolding before students are assessed individually for learning performance. However, one major
reason that instructors engage their students in class discussion is to have them further interpret,
analyze, evaluate, infer, reflect on or explain what is being learned in class. In other words, it is an
important activity for developing high-level thinking skills.
Large classes often present a bigger challenge in facilitating class discussions for high-level thinking
or critical thinking (Illinois State University Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology, 2010). To
promote student engagement in large classes, students are often divided into smaller groups for
discussion. This activity often requires not only careful structuring and management by the instructor,
but a substantial amount of class time.
To enhance group discussions and to overcome traditional constraints, instructors are now turning to
technology (e.g., GoogleDocs, Blackboard) for online group discussions. Online group discussions
provide the same opportunities as face-to-face for enhancing high-level thinking skills, student
engagement and more. Asynchronous online group discussions, in particular, also have the added
advantage of providing that much needed time to first carefully think, to construct a meaningful
response, or to reflect on the contributions of other group members, before posting one’s own
contribution to the discussion.
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