Do you often feel frustrated with the way discussions in your online course end up? Is everyone repeating the same thing? Are you reading essays in discussion forums, rather than genuine conversations about the topic? Consider changing your mindset and approach to course discussions through a new discussion pedagogy, that leads to authentic course conversations! Three ASU instructional designers, Abigail Smith , Steven Maierson , and Sarah Prosory , teamed up for a recent webinar to review where we are at with current online course discussion boards, the typical pedagogy that goes along with them, and why it is inadequate. Then they shared a new approach and tool to make discussions become authentic conversations that lead to better student engagement. Where We Are With Course Discussions Let's face it, online discussions are not the same as face-to-face discussions in a classroom. We hear often that "the magic is gone" in online discussions, and they are not interesting

Imagine sitting in the audience at a large conference and you had a question. You think to yourself, “should I ask it?” but then overthinking, nervousness, and anxiety come to play, forcing a larger part of your consciousness to rely on someone else to ask that question for you. This is a decision that students in your classes are experiencing, and not all students experience this to the same extent. Student participation as a way to engage students: what you should know A common way for instructors to maintain an active and engaged classroom is by allowing their students to participate in front of the class; this teaching practice is sometimes known as the “Socratic Method” and can serve as a way to help students stay engaged and to critically think ( Garside 1996 ). Instructors will often use this method because they think it can benefit everyone in their classrooms, but little research has been done in large-enrollment science courses. Is whole-class student participation equally be

You may have heard Aesop’s fable of The Tortoise and the Hare . The two are pitted against each other in a race. The Hare is confident in his speed making him the clear winner, against the Tortoise’s slow and languid gate. The speedy Hare stops for a nap, and the Tortoise passes him and wins the race. The moral of the tale adds up to “slow and steady wins the race”. But what if we could learn from both the Tortoise and the Hare in our course revision and instructional design practices and win the race together? Tortoise: Managing Workload Over Time As instructors, we may be very much aware of the things we love about our courses or those that we wish we could change. Sometimes the small suggestions of an extra assignment, more active learning, updated readings, recording new lectures, updating an outdated learning technology can be…overwhelming. The Tortoise is the prime example of how to approach this process. Slow and steady. We are in our teaching for the long haul. We don’t need to

That red dot. It's calling your name. Emails, Slack messages, voicemails. Family and pets. Distractions! If you're distracted, chances are your students are distracted. Perhaps they are distracting themselves from having to deal with the reality of the world right now. But you really want them to not be distracted while in class because you really want them to be learning!  This semester you're invited to join us as we explore James Lang's latest book, Distracted: Why Students Can't Focus and What You Can Do About It . The book explores why and how we get distracted, and shares ways instructors can encourage the practice of attention in the learning environment.  What Can You Do? Studies have shown that academic procrastination is real, and some ways to counter it are found in the cognitive and behavioral strategies to increase executive functions, such as self-regulation in students ( Rabin et al., 2011 ). But author James Lang provides a different perspective, on