Exploring rarely-noticed default settings that mediate instructor-student interactions, and their impact on student experience. It's time to pivot from acceptance of (silent) defaults, to intentional, deliberate choices that matter...
This is possibly the easiest online discussion type or "template" to implement. It is indispensable in any new or redesigned online course. I call it "see the forest discussion," but most people call similar activities "exit tickets." The interesting part is that it isn't really a "discussion" in the strict sense, but is worth considering, if you don't use it.
This is a really simple “template” for a week-long, time-sequenced online “jigsaw-type discussion,” and its potential effectiveness in promoting recall, and transfer of knowledge, is based on fairly basic, but solid, and well-established research evidence summarized at the end of this post.
Online discussions in some ways they are better than traditional face-to-face synchronous discussions. They are more equitable, giving everyone time to think, and leveling the playing field for intro- and extroverts (who are always guaranteed to win in face-to-face discussions!).
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