Learning Types – Discussion

Discussion

Requires the learner to articulate their ideas and questions, and to challenge and respond to the ideas and questions from the teacher, and/or from their peers.

Conventional methods include face-to-face tutorials, seminars and group-based class discussion.

Moving discussion online: There are a number of good online options, including Moodle discussion forums which can be real-time (synchronous) or run over an extended period (asynchronous). Online forums can be even more productive than conventional tutorials as more students may contribute. For a richer discussion, Blackboard Collaborate can be run as a synchronous session.

Key UCL tools:

Moodle: Chat, Forum, Hot Question.

Take it further – more teaching and learning ideas

• Interview an expert (forum/chat)
• Webinars (Collaborate)
• Model answers/examples of previous work (forum)
• Analyse chat text (in course or uploaded)
• Job/professional reflections (blog)
• Group discussions on the topic, problem, reading (chat/blog/wiki)
• Social networking – participate (external)
• Reflective tasks – group or individual (forum)
• Special interest groups – share on a topic (forum)
• Lead a group project