How to Orient Students to the Discussion Board

Implications for Teaching and Learning.

• Orienting students to the board provides clear information on both the technical aspects of the board and your expectations for how the board will contribute to both teaching and learning in the course.
• Online programs can handle some of the technical orientation to the discussion board through online or face-to-face orientations for new students. It is still a good idea to include brief explanation of the techical aspects of the board in all courses in the program to catch students new to the program that miss these orientations.

Promising Practices for TWU.

• Include a technical orientation to the discussion board in your online course.
• Include a procedural orientation to the discussion board in your online course.   

Technical Orientation.

1. Provide clear explanation on where to access the discussion board. Some instructors include a discussion board link in their menu (meaning the discussion board is available with one click from anywhere in the course). 
2. Provide explanation and illustration of the specific language used in the discussion board. We suggest you explain and illustrate two major elements of any discussion board: 1.) the difference between a thread and a forum and 2.) the difference between a thread and a reply.
3. Explain that a thread is one topic of dialogue and that new threads are the equivalent to changing the conversation in normal communication. In our normal communications, subtle cues are present to indicate a change but the only way to see this in the discussion board is to understand the cue provided by threads and replies.

Procedural Orientation.

1. Provide a link or text to explain acceptable and unacceptable behavior on the board. Do not assume that all students know Netiquette.
2. Provide explanation of course specific procedures for the board (schedule for posting, rubric, grading procedures, etc.).

Clearly defining and illustrating the nuances of the discussion board will reduce frustration and set the tone for the work that is to follow. Orienting students to the technical aspects of the board and providing explanation of course specific requirement and expectations allows students to quickly become productive on one of the most important teaching and learning tools in a distance courses. Failure to orient students to the board will increase student frustration and generate questions for clarification.

Back to Promising Practices