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The “discussion board” is an integral part of most online courses, and many hybrid and face-to-face classes utilize these virtual spaces as well. However, the quality of student work in online discussion boards can be quite mixed: alongside thoughtful, engaging posts, instructors often see a glut of repetitive, boilerplate responses that fail to generate meaningful dialogue about the material.
Why is the pedagogical effectiveness of online discussion boards so uneven, and how can instructors improve assignment structure in order to optimize the power of these learning tools? This article will explore the pros and cons of discussion boards, share insights from students and instructors, and offer concrete suggestions for making your discussion boards more lively, interesting, and conversational spaces.
Online Discussion Boards: Pros and Cons
As with any assignment or activity, there are pros and cons to using online discussion boards in the college classroom. For asynchronous remote learning, weekly or bi-weekly posts are the primary way that students demonstrate engagement with course material. “What I like most about discussion boards is that they allow all students to share their thoughts,” says Yakira Nuñez, a student in the Communication and Media program at CUNY School of Professional Studies (SPS). “In a traditional classroom setting, participation can be limited by time, self-consciousness, or the lack of opportunity to reflect on the material.” Indeed, in-class discussion favors certain types of learners, while discussion boards offer a more equitable system of engagement.
Discussion boards also present the opportunity for conversation and community building, but many students find that the formal structure of required peer response causes stilted interaction without much meaning. Tony Maldonado, another Communication and Media student at CUNY SPS, notes that too many specific directives in the discussion board space can lead to “surface-level” responses: “The need to follow these rules impedes spontaneity and the natural flow of ideas,” Maldonado argues, and stringent deadlines often lead to rushed, insincere posts, as well as the impulse to plagiarize or rely on AI. So, how can discussion board guidelines and prompts strike a balance between structure and flexibility in order to facilitate more authentic dialogue?
Routine, Not Repetition
While posting on the discussion board regularly is important to establish a sense of routine and sustain engagement throughout the term, students note that pressure to participate week in and week out can become daunting. Especially when discussion prompts are repetitive or lack detail and creativity, it can be hard for students to feel inspired. “I believe the biggest hurdle to a meaningful discussion on boards is a lack of motivation among students,” Nuñez observes. “This often leads to formulaic and monotonous responses, making it challenging to engage meaningfully with these types of posts.”
Nuñez and Maldonado agree that one way to avoid discussion board doldrums is to encourage more opinion-based writing and provide prompts that connect to students’ personal experience and current events. Asking students to include multimedia elements like images, memes, or YouTube videos can also make discussion threads more dynamic. Additionally, allowing the discussion boards to take on a more informal tone can help students feel more comfortable engaging honestly with course material. Rather than worrying about perfect grammar and citation style, students crave a discussion space where they can let ideas develop without the pressure to produce polished writing.
Discussion Boards as “Social Media”
One impediment to the pedagogical success of online discussion is the structure of the boards themselves. Most learning management systems are relatively clunky and can hinder conversational flow. Tercid Pimentel, another CUNY SPS Communication and Media student, suggests that instructors try to make discussion boards more like the social media platforms that many students are familiar with: “There is something about social media that makes everyone run to the comment section,” Pimentel observes, “so I think discussion boards should copy a few of the same strategies: prompts that are interactive, questions accompanied by what other people have said-some controversy in the comments always works.”
Another suggestion from Pimentel is to abandon the traditional structure of requiring each student to create their own thread on the discussion board, and instead have all students responding to a single thread. This approach might encourage students to read each other’s comments more closely and avoid repeating points that have already been made. The instructor can also interject when appropriate and steer the conversation, similar to in-class discussion. While streamlining threads might not be feasible for very large classes, it may be one way to bring more social media-style interaction to small and medium-sized course discussion boards.
Accessible Engagement
Whether or not online discussion boards are able to fully compensate for some of their structural impediments, they are an essential aspect of accessible course design that provides students with a virtual means of engaging with the material. Dr. Eric Powell, an adjunct instructor at McGill University, recently used online discussion boards in a face-to-face course and found that the virtual engagement option was a welcome component for many students. “The discussion boards for my in-person class weren’t as active as a fully online course” Powell notes, “but posts were consistently thoughtful and often connected clearly to in-class discussions from that week.”
Powell’s students also praised the discussion board option for days when they couldn’t attend class due to illness. “I think since the pandemic, we’ve learned that it’s important to offer hybrid options, so I plan to make discussion boards a regular part of my course design for all future classes,” Powell says. Discussion boards may not be perfect, but they are easy to integrate into most courses and offer more accessible engagement to all students. If you haven’t already, consider how you might utilize this active learning strategy in your upcoming classes!
