June 30, 2014
"The discussion forum, currently the holy grail of 'engagement' inside most online courses, is particularly problematic. Exchanges within forums are usually too strictly controlled and reduce honest interaction to busy-work scored by a rubric. These interactions rarely resemble the many and varied kinds of discussions possible in a classroom. And many teachers require things of online discussions that they would never demand in an on-ground classroom: one post of at least 250 words, properly cited, and exactly 2 responses to fellow students. Imagine trying to create a lively classroom discussion with these kinds of constraints."
Read more of Jesse Stomel's wonderfully disruptive blog post, "Online Learning: A User’s Guide to Forking Education," at https://hybridpedagogy.org/users-guide-forking-education/ (Hybrid Pedagogy: A Digital Journal of Teaching & Technology, 8 Jan 2013). Thanks to CSUN faculty colleague Jennifer Thompson (Jewish Studies) for sending me this link.