Welcome to the online discussion forum for Mr. Everett’s classes and clubs. It’s been a very useful tool in the past for improving peer collaboration and student learning. This year we will be using the fourth version of our discussion forum. You can link to the 2009-2010 forum here. Here’s the link for the 2008-2009 forum, the 2007-2008 forum and the 2006-2007 forum, as well.
2008-2009 Forum
A discussion forum is an online tool for collaboration and peer-review. Using forums has produced meaningful dialogue with students, among students, and to students for the last three years in my classroom. As a teacher of history, I strongly believe that we can explore the deeper issues and events of the past only through careful analysis of research. This, however, only begins our journey. To fully understand ourselves and our role in the world around us, we need to be able to interpret our actions and their consequences in the context of a complex world. Then we plunge in to ourselves and our collective past. So, what does this have to do with online discussion forums? Teachers and students can learn to use discussion forums effectively in order to create analytical depth in research. They can pose questions, share feedback, and develop complex ideas piece by piece. In a history class, this is especially useful in examining primary sources and readings collaboratively. Essentially, there are so many ways that an online discussion can produce authentic and rigorous instruction. Another benefit is that the discussions are logged and saved forever. Current students can examine the discussions of previous ones while studying the same material. Insight becomes a powerful shared experience.
2007-2008 Forum
Students have shared research findings on current annual resolutions in Debate Theory class. They have asked each other deep questions concerning identity and community in Multicultural Studies. Students have examining primary sources on websites and role-played different outcomes to scenarios, like the Cuban Missile Crisis. Mock trial evidence has been shared, online textbooks have been read, interactive quizzes have been taken (and deconstructed) and essay questions have been answered and peer-reviewed. All of this has been made possible by the medium of online communication. Students have worked in computer labs at school, libraries in their neighborhoods, and in their bedrooms at home on various assignments successfully.
2006-2007 Forum
Over the years, something else has been created as a result of using online discussion forums in the classroom: communities. Students who might not normally contribute to a verbal classroom discussion have become outspoken advocates, critics, and meaningful members in deep (as well as light) conversations relating from material learned in the class to perspectives gained from personal experience. It truly has been a benefit to my ability to teach to and learn from students. I welcome you to examine the online forums and share your feedback here. Thanks.
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