Online discussions foster critical thinking and community of inquiry, but conversations sometimes fall flat. This workshop introduces strategies for effective discussion practices using a four-part design framework. Participants reflect and revise with peers and leave with an augmented plan for discussions that support a community of inquiry and critical thinking.

Asynchronous online discussions can effectively foster student collaboration and engagement, but sometimes these conversations fall flat, with students merely agreeing with one another or making superficial conversation. In this workshop, participants will learn a four-part design framework to establish effective online discussion practices in their courses and craft a successful discussion prompt that encourages critical thinking and a community of inquiry. We will review research and strategies for structuring online discussions that support critical thinking, active learning, and student engagement, including prompt types and language, discussion roles, staggered due dates, icebreakers, instructor participation, and grading criteria and rubrics. Participants will have the opportunity to write, review, and/or revise their discussion questions with their peers and will walk away with a plan to augment or improve their existing online discussion practices for all course modalities. At the end of the workshop, participants will earn a certificate of completion to showcase their commitment to effective digital education and professional development. The community of inquiry theory describes creating a deep and meaningful learning experience through social, cognitive, and teaching presences. The workshop presents how effective discussion practices can support the community of inquiry on all 3 presences. The specific learning outcomes for this workshop are: 1. Identify the features of discussion board prompts that support critical thinking, student engagement, and meaningful conversation. 2. Recognize how meaningful discussion practices support the cognitive, teaching, and social presences of the community of inquiry framework. 3. Examine the research of how discussion management practices including discussion roles, icebreakers, staggered due dates, and instructor participation support robust and meaningful online discussions. 4. Design or revise a discussion board prompt that supports critical thinking, student engagement, ongoing discussion, and a community of inquiry for your course. The workshop aligns with the Digital Learning Design and Effectiveness theme. Participants will apply evidence-based practices in digital learning to improve their course design and learning activity/assessment strategies with online discussions. The four-part design framework and presentation is evidence-based, with direct references to and explanations of these findings in published research, as well as from the ideas utilized in practice. Some of the research referenced is from OLC's webinar Cultivating Deep Learning Using Discussion Boards; the workshop dives deeper into the study on the type of prompt and gives practical tips and strategies for implementing discussion roles. Furthermore, participants will learn how online discussions can help create a classroom community that is inclusive for all students and celebrates students' backgrounds, experiences, and differences in ideas and opinions. The four parts of the discussion design framework are: learning objectives, type of prompt, prompt language, and discussion management strategies. Each part has a reflection question that attendees will consider with peers before making decisions on these elements for their course. This design framework helps attendees create effective discussion practices that foster critical thinking, student engagement, and support a community of inquiry. This framework is applicable to synchronous courses as well as asynchronous and blended courses and the workshop will discuss considerations for the digital components of different course modalities. Using the framework, participants will work with peers to revise their current discussion practices and design effective discussion experiences that support the development of students' critical thinking skills. The reflection component after the introduction of each design idea helps attendees cement their learning, create a memorable conference experience with like-minded peers, and walk away with a plan. Attendees will consider how to pair online discussions with other in-class or online instructional practices or materials to incorporate the online discussions within a successful course overall. The workshop will also incorporate principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to discuss how online discussions can support UDL to provide students’ flexibility in the ways they demonstrate mastery of learning objectives. The workshop also discusses how some of these changes for instructors can start small and can be “low lift, high impact” instead of an entire course discussion redesign, such as effectively participating on the discussion board to support students' critical thinking, adding learning management settings that support genuine student replies, and using grading criteria and rubrics that save time for instructors while also supporting students cognitive load. Moreover, the workshop presents strategies for assessing the effectiveness of discussion practices after they are implemented, so attendees can ensure continual quality improvement in their courses. The workshop is interactive with participants applying the material to their own practices throughout. We will utilize a group poll at the beginning of the session to gauge participants' current thoughts and feelings about online discussions. During the workshop, we will utilize polling, turn to a partner, and small group reflections and conversations. Workshop participants will be able to apply the practices shared in the workshop at their home institution using the resource handout distributed with the design framework, which gives step-by-step considerations for designing a discussion board activity. It is a robust resource that includes everything an instructor or instructional designer needs to write a discussion board prompt and augment or initiate discussion practices, including the reflection questions used during the workshop, sample discussion roles, sample rubrics, sample discussion templates, and sample revisions of prompts. The handout is substantial and allows participants to apply the design framework on their own and implement their own discussion practice. Attendees need any Internet-connecting device such as a mobile device, computer, or iPad.