DISCUSSION ONLINE

DISCUSSION ONLINE A Survey CMS102J, SUMMER, 2008 N = 19 of 20 responses 95% response rate

INSTRUCTIONS • INSTRUCTIONS: I am trying to learn how to make our online discussions as effective as possible. As you know, Alice Goodwin (TA) has been participating in the discussions and I have taken part as well. Please answer a few survey questions that may help me to know how you think about these discussions and what we can do to make them as good as possible for future classes. Please say what you really think. This will not effect your grade at all.

QUESTION 1 & RESULTS • Did you enjoy the course discussions? • YES 84% • NO 0% • NOT SURE 16%

QUESTION 2 & RESULTS • Did the discussion part of the course add to your learning? • NO 16% • YES 79% • NOT SURE 5%

QUESTION 3 • Was there any one thing that really helped you get into the discussions or one thing that detracted from your involvement in the discussions? • Try to be specific and let us know what we can do to make it better next time we run discussions.

QUESTION 3 RESULTS • The discussions helped me to see how other people feel and the fact that I didn't know them personally was important also because I couldn't put a personality to the post, which gave me a raw viewpoint that somehow seemed quite valuable. I was really interested in participating more in the discussions, but I was behind from the get go. Also, I don't really like taking courses in the summer, as they are too short. Reading a chapter a week, contemplating it, then writing about it coupled with other aspects of my life left little room to appreciate the work and input of others, as much as I would have liked. Unfortunately, a lot my time was spent on my own work. I would have really enjoyed the course better in the traditional 4-month time-frame (I remember saying the same thing last summer). I got the general feel from my classmates that they too were a bit overwhelmed, as the posts seemed to be lower than I would have expected. If suggestions are welcome, one comes to mind; I think that if there were a couple less chapters to do and the discussion board was increased, it would have made for a livelier experience in this short session. • For me, It seems like because everyone will be viewing it, I needed to make sure I was perfect with what I said. The pressure of trying to impress ther other people with your ideas makes it tricky sometimes, but not enough to really worry about. • I actually liked that we all had little home pages so we could learn a little bit about eachother. Its nice to have a face to put to the person you are having a discussion with. • I think that you and Alice helped me to think more about what the discussions were on. When another student would post first and then you and alice would respond with a question or a comment thats where it helped me to think more in depth.

QUESTION 3 RESPONSES • Rather than leaving an open discussion board, I like that you posted many questions and responded quickly in order to keep the discussion rolling. Next time however, I would get rid of the "group discussion" space and just have one discussion board. The group discussion was not effective because it never took place (in my group at least). • Once people started regularly responding to discussions, things seemed to move a long better. Personally, I'd never taken an online class and its was just such a different change from getting instant responses in class, to waiting hours or days for responses. • Reading classmates' posts helped me get involved with discussions, but I felt like the opportunity only presented itself to respond when I had time. In other words, there wasn't a tangible requirement that I connect with or contact my classmates. I enjoy traditional classroom settings and missed the ability to phyiscally see and hear my peers. There's a connectedness that comes from being in the same room with people over time- even if you only smile and say hello to one another at the start of every class. I assume that if students had to respond to at least one person's post for a specified number of discussion questions, that might lead to a natural exchange between students. • The content was enough to generate enthusiasm for me. The text is good. I like the CD interviews. • One thing that detracted from my involvement was classmates lack of interest. Also, posts that I thought missed the point of a chapter. • I would have put more thought into discussions if there weren't so many. It was difficult to start analyzing CI #2 while still writing the essay for CI #1. They should have been spread out because I would have liked feedback on the first before working on the second. (I do realize the time constraint of a seven week course). • Possibly have the original threads due on Wednesday so there are 4 days for discussion.

QUESTION 3 RESPONSES • Nothing that I can think of now at least. • I enjoyed the disucssion about the movie you've got mail. it was nice to discuss a different type of media • The major thing that helped with discussions was the participation of others in the group. Reading their opinions helped to get my brain going. • I feel that the class was very helpful for me to better understand communication styles. However, I do feel that it was hard for me to follow along, that was more myself becoming familiar with this form of communication, "practice makes perfect''. For the most part I greatly enjoyed the class and the discussions. Its defiantly a matter of self motivation that gets you through this class. I feel through reading the chapters on my own, I was able to apply them directly in my real life, as opposed to being "spoon fed"; in a classroom where the classwork and assignments are less hands on, this all depends on you to be successful, and what you intend to do to get the work done, if you don't read you want know the material. • I liked discussing topics we were going to write essays about such as both the CI. It was helpful to hear other peoples ideas and share my own to help shape a good. • Well, it was very hard for me to participate in the discussion board because it was not my main concern, my main concern was engaging myself in the book and trying to learn the concepts and making sure I understood the assignments correctly so that I would complete it to the best of my knowledge. I engaged on all of the discussions but I admit I was a little late on a few of them because I feel that the discussion board should be 'free' discussions meaning that people who would like to participate should participate because not everyone is comfortable with posting their thoughts, just like if we were in a real classroom, some people would barely raise their hand because they do not want to share or are not comfortable with speaking out loud in front of the class so their peers could hear what their ideas are. • I liked when the professor or the TA would reply to my post and that is the one thing that would make me want to participate in class discussions.

QUESTION 3 RESPONSES • I think I would have been more apt to engage myself in continued discussion if there were less discussion questions each week. • As far as being detracted from my involvement--it was more on a personal level. I did not anticipate having to take on a third job this summer, which unfortunately left me with almost no “down-time”. When I ws able to get some time to myself, I did do the readings but my focus was moreso on completing the assignments due as opposed to jumping into a discussion. • I did like the questions that were posed, however, and thought that the people who did contribute had some good points. Sometimes I found it difficult, or moreso time consuming to go back and try to see if anything I had written had a comment on it. It would be nice if Blackboard had a feature kind of like a “You’ve Got Mail” announcement, only for comments (and maybe it does). • I find group and class discussion over whelming. Sticking to just one form works better for me.

QUESTION 4 AND RESULTS • Did your comfort level in our discussions change over time? • NOT SURE 11% • YES 58% • NO 32%

QUESTION 5 & RESULTS • Did you find that you posted just to get the job done--to do your homework--or that, at least some of the time, you really got engaged in the discussion? • I posted just to do my homework 32% • At least some of the time, I really got engaged in discussion 63% • NOT SURE 5%

QUESTION 6 • Please write about this one. Is there anything the teacher and/or the teaching assistant (Alice Goodwin) could do that would make discussion better?

QUESTION 6 RESPONSES • There was nothing anyone could have done better. I wish everyone could have gotton to the disscussion board at the same time because I think it makes the discussion more colorful when there are more opinions. I also would have liked a little but more feed back on papers but it was a good course overall. • The discussion went well, maybe you could add some examples of the information we were reading about or maybe some online articles. Like you did with the movie but for each week. • I don't think there was anything that could have been improved upon by the instructors. I thought that excellent questions were posed to the students that required clarification and thought. Thanks to both Lenny and Alice, I have already stopped injecting my opinions in conversations with others, and it will work well for me. • Both Lenny and Alice were great at responding to posts and facilitating the discussion. The only thing I would change, as I mentioned above, is the group discussion board, which is not necessary in my opinion. • not really i liked the layout of the class • This might be a limitation of Blackboard, but if there was a specified time that a chat room was open and Lenny and/or Alice were on it, I think that would spark more engaging discussion and really present the class with an opportunity to connect with one another. The discussions wouldn't be graded, as this would be a forum to exchange ideas about communication topics. Students could log in, ask question about the material, get feedback on their approach to essay assignments and generally just express how they feel they're doing in the course. This chat room might help the students engage more in the formal, discussion board posts. • Hi Lenny and Alice,Overall, I do not think there was much you could have done to make the discussions better. I believe that the majority of it is just the fact that the course relies (relys?) on the class interaction and there's only so much you can do to get people engaged and/or motivated to post. I appreciated the fact that you commented on certain points of what people had to say and your questions were encouraging. I believe that personally, I had "problems" with the course, because I would log on and if one of you had responded to something I had written at another time, sometimes I would forget to go back and answer you. I realize that it would be near impossible to personally email all the students, but I did appreciate the efforts that were made.I actually wish I had taken this course in person only because the interaction part of it would have been easier to follow, as in knowing the tone of voice when someone speaks, facial expressions, etc.

QUESTION 6 RESPONSES • I think that just more communication in the discussion boards other than that I learned a lot and enjoyed this course • i think frankly that the format is a good format, however one of the drawbacks is that the discussion is not occurring instantaneously . • Try to make sure everyone participates....the more people that post the better.I thought it was mandatory so I posted for all the topics on my group page...but not many other people did. • I feel that the professor was very helpful, and willing to "adjust" and learn from what the students had to say. I feel that both the professor and Alice were active participants who were very diligent and made the class easier, especially with the speediness in responding to questions posted, or emails sent. • The dsicussion that I thought was the most interesting was the one in which we discussed "You've Got Mail" and the internet related chapter after that. I think that those got the most response out of people and we had the most actual discussion and comparision of ideas in it • Alice's comments seemed personal and relevant. They really added to coversations and enhanced what the students were trying to focus on.

QUESTION 6 RESPONSE • First I would like to say like I said previously, discussion is great if people participate but there are some people who are not comfortable with other people reading their comments. I personally just did not keep track of it as often as I would have liked. I did not enjoy it as much. I would have to say I am not really sure how to make it better except for maybe having people freely post their thoughts and ideas on discussion board throughout the session that the course meets. • I actually wish I had taken this course in person only because the interaction part of it would have been easier to follow, as in knowing the tone of voice when someone speaks, facial expressions, etc. • You did a good job. Like I said above just one form Discussions would make things more manageable.

DISCUSSION ONLINE