Online+Discussions

Why Do We Do It?
I have often heard students say that they learned as much from their classmates as they did from their teachers. That means they had great classes with teachers that utilized discussions, preparing them for college and the workforce in the 21st century! Yay!!! The whole point of English Language Arts is to learn to express your ideas and to understand how others are expressing theirs. Group discussions play a VITAL role!

In an online class such as this, it becomes impossible to sit us all down together to discuss ideas. Even if we all planned to jump on Google Hangouts at the same time, everyone is working at a different pace through the course. We need to make use of the technology at our fingertips by having discussions ONLINE. That's where discussion boards come in.

How Do I Do It?
Click here for a tutorial on participating in discussion boards on Apex.

What Are Some Tips For Success?
Check out these tips for online discussions!

Watch the videos about online discussions! media type="youtube" key="tVqWcrMPxfY" width="560" height="315" media type="youtube" key="DwdqQjCfWSc" width="560" height="315"

How Will I Be Graded?
Most discussions will be worth 10 points. The quality of your work is evaluated on the following rubric. I look at the overall quality for an overall score, so...

If you earn a 1 (30%), that is 3 points.

 * You must do BOTH a response of your own AND a response to a peer!** If you only do one response, your score will be docked by 50%, so do TWO! **If you're the first to post in a discussion board and so you don't have a peer to respond to, follow the alternative directions in the prompt.** This may mean responding to two questions or addressing an opposing viewpoint. That will also give people entering the discussion more posts that they can respond to, so we can really expand that conversation. :)

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