Get Your Students Talking Online

Moodle Forums

Q: Why did you select Moodle Forums for your course, and how do you use it?

“I chose to use Moodle Forums to build a sense of community among students, as they often lack opportunities to interact with each other and the instructor. I also wanted to encourage them to engage critically with the course content, reflect on it, and relate it to their interpersonal experiences, personal and professional. I create small groups of students who connect more closely with each other through the forums and also have the opportunity to meet in person and strengthen these virtual relationships. I offer a variety of types of prompts. For instance, one week my students watch a short film clip and comment on that, another week they’ll do different types of online assessments like a cultural intelligence questionnaire and discuss their results, and they do a peer critique of presentations in forums.”

Q: Do you feel that Moodle Forums has helped you achieve the goals you had when choosing to use it? Overall, how has it impacted your course?

“Many of my students say that they’ve never had as much interaction with their classmates in other large classes, nor have they enjoyed it as much. I have been pleased that when used for peer critique of presentations, the students have been really kind and respectful and helpful to each other.”

Q: Would you share your favorite success story with Moodle Forums?

“My students upload a presentation on the ‘dark side of communication’ or ‘communication gone wrong,’ which addresses the dysfunctions that frequently occur with communication. Through the forums they get feedback from their classmates (in addition to me). A prompt is provided as a guideline for feedback in terms of identifying strengths based upon the criteria for the assignment, and then a suggestion that would just make it better.”

Q: Have you encountered any challenges when using Moodle Forums?

“The only challenge I have encountered is when a student has legitimate, extenuating circumstances and needs to post late. It’s a bit challenging logistically to make this option available in the discussion forum. Additionally, since the forums are set up to be aligned with the week’s work, having a student post late is not as beneficial for that student or their group since most have moved onto the next topic.”

Q: What are your best tips for success for using Moodle Forums effectively?

1. Ask for personal perspectives. This makes for richer and more interesting conversations, and it’s also a question AI (artificial intelligence) can’t answer for you!
2. Provide options for each forum. I might give them 3 questions, and they can pick one to answer. Sometimes someone says, “Oh, I’m so glad you had that other question in there, because I couldn’t relate to the other 2, and that one really resonated with me.” So it’s important to have the options there.
3. Use small groups for large classes. Let them meet each other in person, if you teach in person. Moodle does a good job of randomly selecting and forming the groups, so don’t try to form the groups yourself. Let Moodle randomly create the groups.
4. Take a look at a group as a whole when you’re doing the grading so you can see the interactions they’re having between one another. I think that’s also really important and lets you observe how the discussion is progressing and the level of interaction between the group members.
5. Offer variety in the types of discussions given so course concepts and theories can be applied while avoiding repetition, stimulating intellectual curiosity and enhancing critical thinking skills. For my course, the goal is for students to build some self insight as they strive to be interpersonally competent communicators.

Perusall

Q: Why did you select Perusall for your course, and how do you use it?

“I began using Perusall because I was somewhat skeptical about whether it’s possible to effectively teach a literature class asynchronously online. Literature classes tend to be very discussion-based and involve coming to analytical conclusions and interpretations together in class. So for me, the focus is really on getting the students talking around the text.”

Q: Do you feel that Perusall has helped you achieve the goals you had when choosing to use it? Overall, how has it impacted your course?

“Perusall has allowed me to continue basing my classes around discussion, even in an online asynchronous environment. It encourages my students to close read and to talk about that close reading together. It allows them to do things like hazard an interpretation, and ask a question about that interpretation, and then get feedback from other students, so that they are sort of modeling what we would do in an in-person class when we’re offering various interpretations and  coming to different conclusions about what a text means. For in-person courses, it’s really helpful for me to have students annotate a text in Perusall before a class. I can see where there are areas of understanding, or areas where they’re not quite following a text’s argumentative moves, or maybe making erroneous conclusions about those moves. This helps me to prepare for a more effective in-class discussion.”

Q: Would you share your favorite success story with Perusall?

“Perusall is great for helping students  learn from each other. Students can tag an annotation as a question. I encourage them to use this tool to mark areas of confusion: if you don’t understand what a poem is saying or what an article is saying, ask a question and take a stab at your own answer. I really love seeing moments when other students will come in and answer these questions. They’ll say, “This is what I think is going on.” They’ll help one another and teach one another. And often those are the most productive and the longest conversation threads. That’s exactly what should happen in a literature class.”

Q: Have you encountered any challenges when using Perusall?

“The biggest challenge has been navigating grading. Perusall has a very sophisticated set of customizable automatic grading options. They allow you to do everything from grading the quality of annotations, to grading how much of the text students engage with, and how much they are upvoting or being upvoted, and more. I still haven’t quite got to the point where I trust the automatic grading. I really feel like I need to check that students who are contributing in concise ways are getting the credit they deserve.”

Q: What are your best tips for success for using Perusall effectively?

1. Give students guidance about what good annotations look like – what you are looking for. I have a collaborative annotation guide that I provide to students. Early in the semester, go through and grade an assignment manually with some feedback.
2. Don’t dominate the conversation as an instructor. It is very tempting as the instructor to jump in every time there’s a question, but I’ve found that it works much better if I am pulling myself back and allowing this to be their space. I make heavy use of upvoting to show that I am engaged.

VoiceThread

Q: Why did you select VoiceThread for your course, and how do you use it?

• Raymond: “My course was built around the use of VoiceThread as the main vehicle for sharing ideas, solutions, diverse imaginations, and constructive critiques. Art and design are community-based fields that require communications between students, as well as between the teacher and the students. As I have proclaimed to students every semester: ‘You will learn far more from your diverse classmates than from one teacher.’ Observing other students’ responses, with unique experiences and perspectives to the same challenge, expands each student’s options when problem solving and choosing creative expressions. This aspect delivers our main growth tool.”
• Warner: “I am just integrating VoiceThread for the first time this semester and I’m using it in a lower stakes approach. Many of my students are going through their teacher certification. They have other activities that they engage in, such as an in-person professional development or other meetings that they’ll attend throughout the semester. And so we were really looking at this idea of how to create community. I ultimately landed on VoiceThread because it allows students to put a face and a name together to foster connections when they see each other and meet each other in person.”

Q: Do you feel that VoiceThread has helped you achieve the goals you had when choosing to use it? Overall, how has it impacted your course?

Raymond: “I feel VoiceThread supports our needs in delivering a course that many colleagues told me was not possible as a distance experience. I am the first to admit that face-to-face learning, especially in creative endeavors, is far more desirable than through technology. What is important to realize is that there are compensating aspects that I feel work far better online. Also, with communications evolving constantly in society, perhaps younger generations have a greater command for using different means to share and learn.”

Q: Would you share your favorite success story with VoiceThread?

• Raymond: “The real benefit from our process is the contributions of every student throughout each project, as well as throughout the entire semester. In the classroom, we usually do not have adequate time for every student to give constructive responses to a student’s presentation. Online, in VoiceThread, I require all students to participate in critiquing classmates’ submissions. I vary the process some from semester to semester, however, the typical approach has been for me to assign 3 students to critique each classmate’s sculpture. This means every student in the class reviews 3 classmates, and consequently, each student ends up with 3 reviews. Ironically, some students are motivated to review more than the required 3, which surely delights the students, and their teacher, with extra critiques!”
• Warner: “What I’m really looking forward to is the week that we have the wellness day here on campus. That week, their assignment is to spend time engaging in whatever brings them joy and promotes wellness in their lives. I’m going to ask them to share an image representing how they utilize that time, and explain how they are going to try to prioritize their own wellness and wellbeing during this really frantic time of being a new teacher.”

Q: Have you encountered any challenges when using VoiceThread?

• Raymond: “The main challenge we encounter is students not reading and digesting directions. I admire how young folks feel far more confident in technology, however, many also seem to simply prefer a trial-and-error approach. Often this can cause stress from pushing the wrong command buttons. As an example, every year, at least once or twice as we get started with personal introductions, one or two students end up deleting our entire VoiceThread. By the time I am notified by an anxious student, many other classmates have emailed me to say they do not see the VoiceThread for their introductions. Of course, we all get over this dilemma fast and soon everyone knows what to do and what not to do.”
• Warner: “It can be tricky using the tool with Moodle, and I wish I could view it as a student a little easier.”

Q: What are your best tips for success for using VoiceThread effectively?

• Raymond: My main tip for faculty is simply to expect the students to fumble through the learning process at the beginning. Soon enough, it will all be in the past. I encourage my students to live in the present moment since worrying about the past or the future is pointless. VoiceThread is a tool, not the content of our sculpture experience. Also, DELTA is a terrific resource for problem solving, as well as a joy to work with!
• Warner: “It’s OK to model what it looks like to learn something new. I say, “I’m trying this. And we’re gonna encounter some issues this semester, but we’ll work through them. It’s the first time that I’ve done it.” My other tip is to contact DELTA if you need help!”

Yellowdig

Q: Why did you select Yellowdig for your course, and how do you use it?

“I use Yellowdig to help them feel less isolated. Economics is fairly difficult for some people, and I think it really helps to let everybody know, ‘Hey, there’s other people doing this. There’s other people taking it.’ My purpose for using it has evolved. When I first adopted Yellowdig, I was like, ‘I’m going to get these in depth discussions.’ Almost unintentionally, what has really worked for me, and the reason that I use it now, it’s really all just about creating a sense of community and making them feel so much less isolated.”

Q: Do you feel that Yellowdig has helped you achieve the goals you had when choosing to use it? Overall, how has it impacted your course?

“As mentioned earlier, my purpose for using Yellowdig has evolved into a tool to build community and help students feel less isolated. That’s what I get a lot of: ‘I have loved this tool because I don’t feel like I’m the only person taking the course. There are other people, some of them doing well, so I have hope that I can do better, some of them not doing well, so I don’t feel like I’m the only one that’s not getting it.’ So it makes them feel like they belong more in the course, you know, they’re connecting with their peers in a more personal way like the chatter that you get at the beginning of an in-person class.”

Q: Would you share your favorite success story with Yellowdig?

“It’s really helped them talk about their study habits. They share study notes there. It allows them to see just how in-depth some of the other students’ notes are, and it’s a wake up call, and they say, ‘Oh, my gosh! I didn’t even take notes!’ They see other people are really putting a lot of effort into this, and their notes are very detailed. They realize they could be doing better, and here is how. It’s really the exchange of ideas, study habits as well as mental awareness when they struggle. You get a lot of emotional responses sometimes, and other people are like, ‘Me, too.’ I’ve also started providing study blueprints for them in Yellowdig, which, for some reason, is the place that really connects for them. It helps them to manage their time in an asynchronous online course, and has helped me to be more organized with providing them that resource. I also like how they are posting their notes. I’ll often highlight really good ones. Some of them have even started making infographics that they share, that help them learn. So, their sharing of study tips that I often don’t think to share or think are obvious is really helpful…because they are not always obvious to students.”

Q: Have you encountered any challenges when using Yellowdig?

“When artificial intelligence (AI) came out I had a lot of issues with people posting directly from AI. It was pretty easy to tell in the early days of AI. But you can flag a post in Yellowdig, and the points are removed from the student. Include a comment about why, and they can just post again and get the points back. I tell them, ‘Please just post again. Find the topic that you want to talk about – I don’t care what it is – and talk about it. But you’re not allowed to use AI.’ And I have had almost no issues with it in the last semester or two.”

Q: What are your best tips for success for using Yellowdig effectively?

“I don’t use Yellowdig for more than 5% of the course grade. It’s literally only there to facilitate engagement and communication. Also, some students really like the tools and some might be taking an asynchronous class because they don’t want to have to communicate with others. They don’t like forced communication. I have started ending the requirement at the end of October in the fall, for grading purposes. But, I leave it open. After that, if they want to use it, they can continue to, but it’s not mandatory.”

Workshop Information

• Register for a Get Your Students Talking workshop. If there are no workshops available, you may request an instructional consultation about this this topic.
• Watch a recorded workshop

References

Azizan, N.H., Ayub, H.T., Junaidi, N.N., Zakaria, S.A., Rani, N.Z.A.A., and Husin, S. (2023). The impact of student-content, student-student and student-instructor interactions on students’ satisfaction with online distance learning: A multiple linear regression. Joutnal of Mathematics and Computing Science 9(1).

Liu, W., Yang, Y. and Peng, S. (2024). Impacting factors and effects of college student learning satisfaction: a comparative study. International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 36(1).