Barriers to Good Discussion

1. Online discussion isn't real-time and therefore is less engaging and more time consuming than face-to-face discussion. Much more time is needed to see the communication points through to completion. (Jon Steele)

2. Online learning is so visual. Discussion is all about reading and comprehension in order to develop a substantive response. Are there other ways to develop discussion other than the written word? Ann Ruesch

3. One barrier to good online discussion is the repetition of posts by some students, just to meet the minimum posting requirements. (Steve Thayer)

4. A barrier to good online discussione is student motivation or sense of purpose for the discussion. Students often participate in the discussion board with the purpose of fullfilling their required time as opposed to wanting to grow in understanding of a topic or wanting to engage other students. (Sandra Nichols)

5. Lack of depth in student answers.

6. Online discussion doesn't mesh with student's learning style. (Jon Steele)

7. Online discussion needs clear written directions and expectations. Unclear directions for student discussion and lack of a rubric or clear expectations for discussion leads to poor class discussions. Cindy Sebastiani

8. Just as with any communication, there will be noise that interferes with the intended message. In an online environment, it is even more difficult to discern what distractions there are. Someone may be inserting their own psychological noise by perceiving a message in a way other than it was intended (such as perceived sarcasm). (Jen Dolan)

9. I think it depends on the student. I've had some students who wouldn't say more than 5 words in class who would go on and on in the online forum. And they wrote some excellent stuff - they just were too shy about opening their mouth in front of others. (Scott Ahern)

10. A barrier --some students do not do the learning activities to preparation for the discussion questions. They only want to meet the course requirements to pass the course. (Sue Akey)

11. Barrier: Not being able to read people's nonverbal communication in an online setting. (Sue Akey)

12. In classroom: Barrier--asking discussion questions that get many students to respond to. Often times the students just want you to lecture to them. (Sue Akey)