Threads, Threads, Threads...

Our online course uses blackboard, which has a rather robust treaded discussion feature. Recently, we had an exercise that involved exploring the numerous features available in the threaded discussions. I was not aware of the 'collect' feature which is available. I found this most useful to read through everyone's responses on one screen. I often find forums to be overwhelming when you look and at a glance see all of the discussions and replies together. In order to avoid this, I chose to collapse all so that I only saw the individual responses without the replies. Right off the bat, this made the discussion seem more manageable. I then chose to collect all of these in order to view them all together. This allowed me to read everyone's initial reply and more easily choose which ones to respond to. This feature is wonderful.

As a student, I will continue to first view the collapsed view (to reduce the anxiety!). I will continue to use the collect feature in order to select and view the desired content. I also see the value in selecting a response with all the replies and collecting them in order to follow complete discussion.

As an online instructor, I will be ensure that students understand and use these features effectively. Prior to using them, the overwhelming nature of discussion threads seems to lead a student to neglect entire discussions. In addition, I will be sure to be very clear with students regarding my expectations with regard to the online discussions. I will provide guidelines regarding posting and replying in order to foster communication and collaboration while demonstrating proper writing style and adhering to appropriate netiquette.

By the way, now that I have become more aware of the potential pitfalls, I was a bit more careful with regard to editing my writing. I must have fixed ten typos in this post. Those are just the ones I caught. Forgive me if a few were overlooked.