| Primary Techniques | Examples/Rationale |
| Put questions to student to encourage their comments and discussion according to the given topic. | Open-ended questions can be effectively applied in discussion boards, closed-ended questions can also be used.
Such game as "devil's advocate" is beneficial, because while asking probing questions, using contradictions and counterexamples, students make up situations and practical scenarios. |
| Use student comments, collect and evaluate them. | Refer to students’ comments to make them confident and satisfied. |
| Apply role playing to encourage discussion stimulation. | Discussion boards are are extremely good, especially when there is necessity to play various roles and to achive various goals. Attend the discussion boards, but do not be imposing in your presence. If you attend them often, you will have short discussions with other students and the instructor. If you attend them seldom, you will think that the instructor is not available or that he has lost his interest. |
| Encourage students’ learning and attendance of discussion boards. | The desire to attend discussion boards is explained with the interesting context of the discussion that is to be monitored. Students should learn while visiting discussion boards. The instructor should give an answer to student questions at the period of 24 hours. |
| The discussion board that is used as a part of in-class activities should provide close connections between the in-class material and the internet discussions. | Let discussion began in class be available in the internet, ask students to think over possible variants of the answers and other criteria that influencetheir opinions. |
| Encourage students to attend discussion forums via myWPI. | While attending a discussion board, students can choose their own tempo of learning and make their contribution in the learning process. |
| Reinforce students’ activity - especially in the cases, they are not eager to be active in class. | Encourage students’ activity, interest to learning, their giving comments on the discussion boards and paying attention to their personal correspondence. |
| Do not make declarative comments. | Do not make declarative.comments such as "That's right!" or "Not exactly" in your answers. It is better to ask students to analyze the context of their answers and think over possible variants of their behavior. |
| Apply many short paragraphs instead of one long or two long paragraphs in your online answers and comments. | The reading of shorter paragraphs online takes more time comparing with reading of longer ones. Besides, the idea of the content is not lost. |
| Answer quickly via private emails. | During discussion at discussion boards, you do not see the reaction of your opponents, their mimics and body language that is why you can sometimes meet with misunderstanding. It is advised to send your opponents private emails for better communication and understanding. |
| Consider that the amount of participants in a group on a single discussion forum should be limited. | The quantity of participants at a single discussion forum is fewer than three (3) and no more than seven (7). The large amount of participants hinders to follow the main idea of the conversation. The small amount of participants does not provide effective interaction the perspectives on the forum.
If you decide to apply groups for discussion, you should devide the participants into groups. |
