One of the reasons I created this blog is to encourage us all to interact with each other and by doing do help make ourselves and each other happier. Research indicates strongly that interacting and sharing our ideas with others even briefly can actually increase positive thinking and personal well-being. Yet, I know many of you-- and myself included-- have a hard time always keeping up with such interactions.
While our Happiness for Honors Students class does not really represent my usual teaching style in a regular class, I typically require some type of regular online/digital interaction between students. Yet, in those classes as well as this one, I sometimes feel that students are simply checking off requirement boxes instead of really engaging in authentic, useful discussion that encourages all of us to learn from each other. My students also frequently tell me they feel online discussion in classes that use Blackboard/UNM Learn tends to come off as something they do for a grade, not because it fosters and improves their learning in the course.
So, I am asking you to help me think about and learn from you about how I can establish really strong, vibrant, engaging online discussion forums in my future classes this fall. I would really like to know your honest thoughts on this and promise that nothing you say on this topic will lower your grade in this class.
Below are some possible questions that might help you focus your thoughts on this. But, as you think about this, please try to imagine yourself in my position as a college Honors teacher. I want my student not just to get a degree but to learn skills and better understand themselves and others in ways that will make them more successful in their futures (meaning happier and more fulfilled, not making more salary!). I prefer to encourage and trust students, rather than police and doubt them, which means I want to spend my time reviewing and grading work that inspires them to do their best and truly reflects their learning. Spending tons of my time grading "busy work" each day is not what I consider either conducive to student learning or to my own or the most useful way for me to spend my time. To sum up: I want my classes to matter to your future in ways that are meaningful; I don't want my classes to be simply requirements you have to get through.
On to some questions! Feel free to come up with different questions of your own.
-- Have you ever had interesting or good online discussions with others you don't know well? What made those discussions good?
-- How much supervision do you need to have productive online discussions? In other words, would you work best if I leave you mostly alone or comment on every word?
-- What best motivates you to go online to discuss something related to a class?
-- What if each student was assigned to lead, develop, foster online discussion for a week or two of each class? Would that encourage you to take more ownership of the online work for your assigned weeks? Would you be more inclined to help out your peers in discussions for their assigned weeks?
-- Would making online discussion optional and ungraded have any value? Would you be likely to interact in online discussions if they were not required?
-- Would it be useful to have a basic level of required participation in online discussion and then another level of optional participation that could be used to replace a different kind of assignment?
-- Would it help the liveliness and collaborative quality of online discussions if you were required to post a brief video summary of each of your own assignments (papers, presentations, etc.) on the online discussion at the same time you turn in the regular assignment to me? Doing so would be part of your grade, though the videos would not be graded individually but points would be deducted if you did not turn in the video on time or it did not meet very basic expectations.
These are some of the questions I am mulling over as I work to prepare my fall classes. Any help you can give me would be much appreciated and would help make me happy! Also, if you would like to share this with others you know and get their responses, too, I would welcome that as well.
Referring to your first question in particular, I find I'm most enthusiastic about online discussion when it's over a stimulating and potentially controversial topic. I don't know if there's any foolproof way to create thought-provoking discussion in a group, but I think sparking engaged and even opinionated conversations with hard-hitting and controversial topics or outside content is always a good way to get people invested in the discussion.
ReplyDeleteOne way to achieve this could be to, as you said, choose one student each week to be responsible for the discussion topics that week, and have them find original content to share or discuss that ideally will create stimulating discussions and provoke heartfelt responses from other members. I do find it's easier to jump into a conversation when the topic is one I'm deeply invested in or have a strong opinion on, and even when I don't have any preconceived opinions, seeing an idea that challenges my thinking and causes me to reflexively defend my own ideas is always a way to get a good discussion going.
Also - this may not be entirely related to online discussions, but one of the issues I encountered with discussions about happiness as well as the daily logs is the approach of speaking about what makes me happy each day. While this is a huge help for many of the days I write about, I have a fair amount of "bad" days where I feel like the number of things I'm upset about dwarfs the things that make me happy. I think being able to address these things and vent or discuss solutions would be helpful to approach happiness even on the days where it feels like a far-off ideal, and as long as everyone is comfortable occasionally speaking about the more negative aspects of their day, it might be a productive way to solve problems or ask for advice.
ReplyDelete-- Have you ever had interesting or good online discussions with others you don't know well? What made those discussions good? What made the discussion meaningful is that we have something in common such as in my case include: healing arts, astronomy, art, music, or dance.
ReplyDelete-- How much supervision do you need to have productive online discussions? In other words, would you work best if I leave you mostly alone or comment on every word? I am fine either way. I like to write, and I want to communicate.
-- What best motivates you to go online to discuss something related to a class? My interest in the subject and all its associated matters. I am very interested in the topic of this class and its associated concerns.
-- What if each student was assigned to lead, develop, foster online discussion for a week or two of each class? Would that encourage you to take more ownership of the online work for your assigned weeks? Yes, I would be willing to be a leader or a follower. I am comfortable in either role. It is a good idea.
Would you be more inclined to help out your peers in discussions for their assigned weeks? Yes, I like working with my fellow students.
ReplyDelete-- Would making online discussion optional and ungraded have any value? Hmm... There are many types of students. This idea would have to be pondered on many levels.
Would you be likely to interact in online discussions if they were not required? Yes, I have several blogs. After this class is finished, I plan to incorporate what I have learned in this class into my other blogs.
-- Would it be useful to have a basic level of required participation in online discussion and then another level of optional participation that could be used to replace a different kind of assignment? These are all excellent ideas. I think there should be a questionnaire at the beginning of the course and individually streamline different parts of the class, such as online participation so that you can motivate different students in different ways. In this regard, Andy has made a powerful contribution concerning happiness and learning about happiness. "While this is a huge help for many of the days I write about, I have a fair amount of "bad" days where I feel like the number of things I'm upset about dwarfs the things that make me happy. I think being able to address these things and vent or discuss solutions would be helpful to approach happiness even on the days where it feels like a far-off ideal, and as long as everyone is comfortable occasionally speaking about the more negative aspects of their day, it might be a productive way to solve problems or ask for advice." I like Andy's comments. His writing motivates me to write and to communicate. Happiness is part of a duality that must be addressed, as Andy has so aptly pointed out. However, there is a fine line between expressing the negative to learn and expressing the negative to feed off more negativity. An astute plan would have to emerge based on interactive psychological methods to accomplish this very delicate attribute of the class.
-- Would it help the liveliness and collaborative quality of online discussions if you were required to post a brief video summary of each of your own assignments (papers, presentations, etc.) on the online discussion at the same time you turn in the regular assignment to me? I like this idea! It would be fun. We could also do PowerPoint presentations of the papers for which we are required to complete. Doing so would be part of your grade, though the videos would not be graded individually but points would be deducted if you did not turn in the video on time or it did not meet very basic expectations. This idea sounds good, as well. Anything creative is always the right solution. We are beings of creation and desire to create.
ReplyDeleteThese are some of the questions I am mulling over as I work to prepare my fall classes. Any help you can give me would be much appreciated and would help make me happy! ;-)
Also, if you would like to share this with others you know and get their responses, too, I would welcome that as well. Professor, you have to remember you are preparing a foundation for us and not necessarily building the structure. Grading, sad to say, is a way of motivating people who are paying for learning with the idea that education will bring more security and happier lives in the future. Grading and judgment is our current structure. The concept of happiness as a carrot is an oxymoron in some respects because our society dangles happiness as a carrot in front of workers as something that is always on the horizon but can never be achieved, and that is not a very happy/bright idea! The concept is a little skewed, I know, but it is one that we all have to understand and work within this society of which we are currently parts, like a puzzle. If we do not like the picture, the puzzle/problem is forming; then, we have to change the pieces of the puzzle which ourselves. This class is about changing how we perceive what happiness is. Whatever effort is put forth is not in vain.
You are doing a great job! Happiness and understanding what happiness is-is a life-long pursuit. Happiness is part of the pull of the yin and the yang. What we are working toward is the balance of the opposites via less and less pull between them. Fundamentally our entire society needs changing. That change begins with each one of us and how we perceive what happiness is at the moment. For after all-life is just a string of moments.