What makes a good discussion or journal post?

 Conveys “your presence”- reinforce your conclusions with real life and professional experiences

 Substantial- thoughtful, original, relevant and contributes to the overall learning of the group (For tips,

review Giving and Receiving Feedback)

 Thought-provoking- stimulates thinking and reasoning (For ideas, review Participating in Online

Discussions.)

 Timely- post early to give your peers time to respond, this contributes to a rich discussion

 Logical, concise and grammatical

 At least one full paragraph with enough information for the reader to fully understand your perspective/

point/ idea/ etc.

Please do these things for all discussions throughout this course:

1. Develop a thoughtful, in-depth response to the prompts in your initial post.

2. Read at least 5 of your peers’ postings. (Why 5? This gives you a good feel for the responses and gives

you an opportunity to develop a strong response to add to the discussion in the course, not just to

respond to one person.)

3. Develop a strong response to at least 3 of your peers.

o Whenever possible, choose participants who have not yet received feedback. Though the

facilitator will provide some feedback, discussions with strong peer-to-peer feedback create

stronger collaboration and more often stronger discussions.

o The purpose of these responses is to not only build community within the course but also to

build upon the knowledge bases of the participants in this course. Please take your time to

develop meaningful responses. If you're having a hard time thinking of what to say, take a break

from the course to let yourself digest what has been previously discussed. We know that this can

sometimes be real "work". You may find that some of your online students struggle with
discussions at first, and hopefully your experience in completing online discussions will help you

to guide them as well.