For those new to my blog, a bit of exposition: I've decided to create a class discussion board for my two sections of AP Biology, in hopes that they will use it as an open forum to ask questions, share news, and keep each other updated.
I've used an AP Biology class discussion board in the past, but the students found my frequent assignments limiting and, ultimately, the board felt more like a way for me to collect written assignments than an organic platform for the students to communicate. I'm hoping to overcome that problem this year by making my discussion board assignments to the students less frequent and more open-ended. With this increased sense of freedom, they will (hopefully) feel more invested in their posts, and in the discussion board itself. With my old discussion requirements, the students rarely contributed to the board without being prompted. My goal is to create an out-of-class "place" where students can go to discuss the content when they feel that they want to--not when they know that they have to for a grade.
To get the ball rolling, I have created a fairly open-ended assignment (see image) for each student's first two posts. As they are currently preparing for their midterm exam in AP Bio, I will ask that they first post a question to the board about some topic we've already covered. Their second post will be a response to another student's question.
I think you idea of asking an open ended questions will help facilitate communication between your students. I think about all the discussion board posting we have had to do over the past few months. The ones I've enjoyed the most are the ones that had open ended questions. I feel like it gave me the freedom to speak openly about the topic.
ReplyDeleteGood luck, I'm sure the project will go great!