Discussion on Discussion Boards

One of the benefits to using discussion boards in a class is that this type of learning tool gives students the opportunity to interact with each other on a more personal level which then fosters more knowledge sharing opportunities between peers and thus could bring about a student with increased motivation to learn.

One way that I could use a discussion board in my “classroom” would be to have “students” post challenging questions to peers for a week and the person that comes up with the correct answer first would be given a small prize (the youth centre is all about giving out prizes). Another way that discussion boards could be used at the youth centre is to communicate with members of other youth centres in Nunavut about what programs are going on in their communities and have visitors to Computer Access Program (CAP) sites share knowledge.

Some of the challenges that teachers may face when using the discussion board tool for teaching and learning is that: students could easily get off subject if not monitored regularly, written communication is not as easily interpreted as verbal communication and thus some people may be misunderstood (i.e. sarcasm), some students may not be as timely in their responses as others and thus will hold back the class, and information may not always be correctly supplied by students.