Fully-Online Module (MDP): Distance Students Engage in Discussion Forum for Communication and Assessment Activities

Fully-Online Module (MDP): Distance Students Engage in Discussion Forum for Communication and Assessment Activities

Monday, October 14, 2019

EMS lecturer, Dominica Arendse, in collaboration with the CIECT team has created a fully-online environment whereby students from various geographical parts of the country and abroad, engaged and completed  a module.  The discussion forum was used extensively during the seven week Management Skills Development (EMD 511) module, for interactive communication and assessment purposes. Dominica developed various discussion topics aligned to learning content, relevant outcomes and assessment activities. The discussion topics enabled students to reflect on and interactively engage from their respective locations. These topics included reading levels; sources of information; acknowledging sources; parallel grammatical structure and; others.

It should be noted that the lecturer, Dominica, was 'visible' throughout the student engagement and online experiences. In addition, she would respond and actively participate within the discussion topics and; assess student responses for grading purposes.

Using the discussion forum as an assessment eTool takes a great deal of planning and commitment on the part of both the Instructional Designer, lecturer, tutors and students. This is due to the time required to read posts and assess whether there is a deep understanding of the content and whether students are able to apply their knowledge effectively. Hence, clear instructions and guidance is required from the lecturer to the students. Dominica has effectively taught six iterations of the seven week online module since July 2018.

Contact CIECT to discuss, advise and plan your fully-online interactive environment.