HUSO2075 Social and Political Theory

Just like in the classroom, Kent says, not every post has to be “super articulate or have fully formed thinking”; posting a question or a brief comment are equally useful ways of being engaged. In his Week 1 announcement, Kent outlines each of the following:

Discussion Board Commandments 

This guidance for students around etiquette and expectation includes points like, "Thou shalt...

• “Recognise that everyone is welcome and has something to contribute - including YOU!”
• “Know that no post is too short.”
• "Ask why, wonder, and be curious (about the readings, the discussions, others etc.)"
• "Turn a blind eye to spelling/grammar - the priority is discussion - p[osting to discussiond boardz is not formal writing - relax - speeling, gramah - Not really that importnat - just post…"
• "Bring a little personality to the cause!"

Types of discussion board posts

Kent outlines a few of the types of posts students can make, including: "Road-testing ideas for the assignments," "Checking understandings of something from the set-readings," "Question making" and "Responses to questions from others."

7 reasons why engaging in online discussions is a good idea 

Kent included detailed descriptions for each of the seven items, which included: "1. Test-drive your ideas and position making & develop your confidence in taking a position in response to debates," "6. Enhances the independent study you do, and  "7. Crude Pragmatism - You paid for it - it’s what you enrolled to do."

Before many students will feel comfortable sharing ideas or taking a stance on an issue, they need to get comfortable with their classmates.

Kent encourages students to post a self-introduction, and then checks in with students that don’t post within the first two weeks of class. They often tell him things like, ‘Everybody else just seems so much more confident and knowledgeable than I am.’

To address that, Kent gives students parameters about what to cover, including their current professional status and how far into the program they are. This gives students a sense that there are other students like them, and a range of levels of experience in class.

Each week consists of learning materials and two to three discussion questions drawn from the course content. Students must access the discussions from within the weekly Modules.

They have to ‘complete’ each Module before they can move on. For reading materials, this means they have to view the page, but for discussions students must contribute.   In his expectations, Kent stresses that contributions to the discussion can be as simple as another question--it doesn’t require a lengthy response.

Kent notices that students still post discussions for him to read, rather than for other students.

To address this, he asks them to refer to the ideas other students post in some of their assessment items, to identify how their point of view has evolved through the online engagement.