Discussion Model

One of the simplest ways to use web publishing in the classroom is the centralized discussion model. In this approach, students all contribute to a single site, while the faculty member controls how that information is organized and displayed. This model's asynchronous discussion encourages participation by students who are less likely to speak up in class, and is used regularly by UR faculty to improve the quality of in-class discussion more generally.

The conversation on discussion sites can be faculty-driven, where the professor determines the topic and publishes an initial question or prompt for consideration. Or, the discussion can be largely student-driven, where students share responsibility for both creating the initial prompt and expanding the conversation. Tim Barney's "Mappenstance." site on UR Blogs is a great example of a student-driven discussion model.

Resources

The Teaching and Scholarship Hub has curated a series of video tutorials to answer your technical questions about using UR Blogs for course-based discussion. These tutorials, as well as more general ones that cover an expanded range of technical topics, are available on the UR Blogs Get Help page.