[ARCHIVED] Canvas FastTrack Ep. 20 - Discussions Chat About It!

[lstark]

The Canvas FastTrack Video series is a collection of quick videos aligning Canvas with Dr. Puentedura’s SAMR Model of Technology Integration.  This model has been used by many institutions as a framework for infusing technology into teaching and learning activities.  In the video collection we will dive into the various tools in Canvas and how they align with the SAMR Model of Technology.  Watch this four-minute video introduction to SAMR if you aren’t already familiar with the model.

Episode 20 is a 2 ½ minute video about discussions and some cool tips, tricks and ideas of how to bring life to the standard online discussion. 

Thanks for watching and please feel free to leave feedback, requests, and suggestions in the comments below!

[jomontuori]

Love the vlogging idea, Leslie. I can imagine using vlog posting assignments to freshen up text discussions. For example, for a public speaking task, ask students to present a piece of an argument in a video recording: introduce your topic; state a clear claim; or make a counterclaim. I wonder if each successive student could be asked to build the argument with a new claim, then a new piece of evidence, new explanation, etc.

[lstark]

Hi  @jomontuori ​,

What a great idea, that would create a strong truly organic and deep discussion.  Also possibly create some competitiveness to get your submission in early.

Thanks!

Leslie

[nbiddinger-c]

Joe, that is an excellent suggestion!  I'll keep that one in mind.

[DrNufer]

I'm still not sold on "liking", but I might give it a try.  

[nbiddinger-c]

I'm with you Seah, but Leslie did give me some reasons to make it worth testing out with the right group.  It is worth trying.

[lstark]

Hi snufer‌ and  @nbiddinger-c , 

I was given the best example of "liking" two weeks ago by  @travis_thurston ‌. 

Based on your emotions of an extra point(s), give students a very engaging discussion prompt from a reading, from a lesson, from something relevant for your content and their lives.  Enable liking and sort by likes, in the instructions let students know that the discussion reply that is "liked" the most will received an extra point(s).  This can help to drive more thought provoking deeper dives of discussions.  

For the reply portion he uses a fantastic strategy of having students # with a Blooms verb, they are identified at the various levels.  

I've briefly summed this up, Travis can do a much much better job of sharing his fantastic idea! 

Anything to drive more engagement and get students past the hump of Read Chapter/Article Post Once, Reply Twice... 

Thanks! 

Leslie

[nbiddinger-c]

Thanks for sharing this Leslie - the more I learn the more I like "like"!

[ericwerth]

Hi Leslie, 

Thank-you for the idea on using "liking".  Do you know of other ways that liking has been used to foster student engagement in discussions?  I am particularly interested in examples from higher ed, but any ideas would be helpful.  I was hoping to create a list of ideas for our faculty that they may not have though about.  I'm certainly interested in ideas from others in the community as well.

Thanks!

[lstark]

Hi Eric, 

I don't have any more right off the top of my head for "likes", but as I find more examples, I'll add to the thread! 

Thanks!

Leslie

[ssimpso4]

Anyone desirous of making the rubric for a discussion more prominent should check out this feature discussion. Thanks!

[tellison]

Thanks for the great ideas.  I never thought about Vlog It.  I will have to try.  I like idea of the class winner too, I have had some professors ask why they would select on Allow liking. 

[Sylvia_Ami]

The video gave me some great ideas. We had a basic Canvas training class for our faculty. But now I'm thinking of having a follow up training where faculty can practice using these cool tools such as submitting videos in discussions and voting (via Likes). Thanks  @lstark ‌ and everyone for sharing these helpful ideas.

[jayoder]

 @lstark ‌, what is the "sort" likes all about?

[lstark]

Hi  @jayoder ‌, 

The idea for "sort" allows the most liked to bump up to the top.  So in a way you can crowd source students discussion post responses. Last year in chatting with  @travis_thurston ‌ he shared the neat strategy of staging up the students to receive a little piece of extra credit for having the most likes and that sort by likes would be able to help filter that and funnel them to the top.  In away think of when you shop on Amazon, and you read the review and see how many folks say that was helpful.  The big idea behind that sort is really a bigger conversation of ensuring that you have phrased your discussion question/prompt to be an authentic prompt. Not just a regurgitate the information in a post with a word count requirement.   

I'll keep trying to come up with more innovations and creative use cases! I love and appreciate all the inspiring ideas you all share throughout the community as well! 

#keeplearning

Thanks,

Leslie

[jayoder]

 @lstark  that makes sense! I just a did a project where the class voted on the best group presentation and i was trying to count and tally all the paper ballots...I'll look forward to the digital version next year!

[travis_thurston]

 @lstark ‌,

My proposal for #InstCon18 is how to use Digital #Power-ups in Canvas discussions. Basically, my colleague and I identified three major inadequacies for engaging students in online discussions and use Brad Gustafson's strategy of digital power-ups paired with inherent Canvas LMS features to create a unique opportunity for students to engage in weekly online discussions. 

I presented about this same topic at a higher ed teaching conference in August 2017. You can view a 5-minute excerpt from that presentation that gives a basic overview of the literature and the application of this strategy on YouTube:

Power-Ups for Online Discussions: Using Scaffolds and Hashtags - YouTube 

Hope this helps others. I'm happy to help improve engagement strategies within the discussion feature.

 @jayoder ‌,  @Sylvia_Ami ‌,  @nbiddinger-c ‌, ericwerth‌, snufer‌

[kona]

 @travis_thurston , I'm trying to take discussions in my class to the next level, so your post really hit home! I watched the video and did a quick search on Digital Power-Ups and now I've got lots of questions... Other than "likes" in Canvas, do you mind sharing the other "inherent Canvas LMS features" that you used? Or, is that top secret and only to be shared at InstCon? 😉

Great work! 

Kona

[travis_thurston]

 @kona ,

I don't mind sharing   The Canvas features utilized are the "likes" and sort by "likes" to allow students to curate the discussion forum with the highest quality post. I instruct the students to only like the post that they think is best. This worked out well in my course, but as you know there's no way to know who is liking each post, or how many times an individual has liked posts in a given discussion forum. 

The Digital Power-ups themselves come from Brad Gustafson, and I followed his recommendations from a blog post he made about them (Power-up Digital Learning | Adjusting Course ) and from his recent book Renegade Leadership (pages 114-115). Brad is an elementary school principal and it was one of the teachers in his building that was using this strategy with her students.  @jayoder , this would work well for secondary students as well. I was explicit in my intentions and with my expectations for the students. This is how I presented the concept in the syllabus:

---

Discussions - Class Interaction Activities

In each of the discussions or Class Interaction Activities (CIA) you will form your discussion posts based on the Digital Power-ups from our Renegade Leadership text and were adapted from Bloom's New Taxonomy (Gustafson, 2016, p. 115). Your initial post should include 2-3 power-ups and your comments to your peers should include 1-2 power-ups. Utilizing the power-ups will not only help us structure our responses, but they will also help us to enrich our discussion boards and use it as a forum to interact and learn from one another. Typically, you'll need at least 2 or 3 sentences to properly address each of the power-ups you select.

Identify or code your responses by using the appropriate hashtag that corresponds to the power-ups that you're addressing (EX. How can using power-ups enrich online discussions? #understand). A tab with the Power-ups will be included on each discussion.

 Power-ups

• Remember: List or restate something you just read; then, add an opinion in your response. Use #remember
• Understand: Ask a question that will help you understand what you read. Allow a peer to respond to your question. Use #understand
• Apply: Organize what you read into something new. Include a poem, chart, timeline, diagram, or model in your response. Use #apply
• Analyze: Examine a quote you read, and then compare it to a different text. Explain why you think they're related. Use #analyze
• Evaluate: Critique something that you read in a respectful manner. Cite text-based evidence in your response. Use #evaluate
• Create: Develop a novel response based on what you read using text, video or other supplies to innovate. Use #create
• Connect: Connect to an issue outside of your school. Think globally, and share how collaborated in your response (this requires actual action on your part). Use #connect

 Liking Posts

 I have enabled the feature in Canvas that allows students to "like" one another's posts, and I have set the discussion boards to sort the post with the most likes to the top. Think of your "likes" as a type of currency, because each week the post with the most likes will earn extra credit points (so be stingy with giving out your likes). I doing this for two reasons:

1. The earlier in the week you post, the more eyes will potentially see you post which encourages more discussion in the forum overall.
2. I really want you to consider making a quality post that your peers will deem worthy of giving their "like"

I hope that utilizing this feature will improve our quality of posts, and overall discussion.

--- 

Let me know if you have any other questions. I'm happy to share insights on how I applied this in my class. I'm also working on writing this up along with my results in a paper that I plan to publish later this year.

[jayoder]

 @travis_thurston  Love it! I'm gonna be keeping this in the forefront of my mind as I develop my courses for next year, I will have some honors blended learning classes and I even have a 1st period honors class this year that humors me as my technology guinea pigs...they are a special group! I may just get to work on this ASAP #remember

[kona]

 @travis_thurston , there are not enough "likes" for me to like this enough! Thank you for that extra explanation! It really helped and sounds like an amazing way to structure discussions to really enhance student learning and critical thinking. I was already planning on restructuring some things for my fall course and I think this could be an excellent way to take my discussions to the next level! 🙂

Thank you and I have my fingers crossed for your session being selected for InstCon - I would love to attend the session and here more about this!

Kona

[travis_thurston]

I'm so happy to hear that you want to try this out in your course I've helped five other instructors implement this strategy into their courses here at my own institution. I've been very pleased with the results thus far. 

[lstark]

Travis, 

It is brilliant! Thank you so much for sharing this with everyone and for everyone to level up online discussions.   

[jayoder]

 @travis_thurston  I want to echo  @kona ‌' thoughts, this is such a great idea! I definitely want to know more! Have you seen this used at the Secondary level? I could really envision this being so powerful and just chock full of potential! #understand

[ericaeducator]

I just want to say that the comments beneath each of these FastTrack videos have been incredibly helpful in making me think about more creative ways to approach the use of Canvas -- for the instructors I work with and for my own pedagogical purposes.  This community ROCKS!