DISCUSSION PATTERNS ONLINE Lenny Shedletsky TEACHER AND TA INFLUENCE ON UNDERGRADUATE DISCUSSION
Feb 22, 2016
DISCUSSION PATTERNSONLINE
Lenny Shedletsky
TEACHER AND TA INFLUENCE ON UNDERGRADUATE DISCUSSION
TEACHER (or TA) INVOLVEDWhat do you notice for a pattern?
teacher
TA
WITH TEACHER (or TA) INVOLVED
• Students respond to the teacher (or TA);• The teacher (or TA) responds to the student;• The students rarely respond to one another;• Look again--
WITHOUT TEACHER INVOLVEMENTWhat do you notice for a pattern?
HERE IS WHAT I NOTICE
• Without teacher involvement in the discussion, students either post and flee—i.e., no interaction, or:
• They occasionally respond to one another;• Look again at an example of post and flee;• Look at students responding to one another;• Look at students post but do not respond to e
ach other—where there is 2 posts, it is the teacher responding;
STUDENTS POST IN PARALLEL—they each post and flee
Every post with more than 1 total post is the teacher responding
Another unsuccessful silence exercise...Amanda Munroe5/23/08 9:59 PM
Most Unfortunate GroupthinkKevin Benjamin6/10/08 3:13 PM RE:Most Unfortunate Groupthink Leonard Shedletsky6/11/08 8 RE: Most Unfortunate GroupthinkKevin Benjamin 6/12/08 5:03 PM
POST and FLEETEACHER RESPONDS TO STUDENT & STUDENT RESPONDS TO TEACHER
HERE ARE 2 PATTERNS THAT TEACHERS COMPLAIN ABOUT
WITHOUT THE TEACHER (or TA)
SO WHAT IS A TEACHER TO DO?• I suppose if you wish to have a Socratic dialogue, engage the individual;
• If you wish to have students engage one another, stay out of it;
• When do students engage one another?– An educated hunch is:
• When they are moved by topics that matter to them;• When they need one another to complete an
assignment;• When they are not following the rule, “I must respond
to the person with more power and status.”