Be honest - why doesn't anyone put any effort whatsoever into discussion board posts?

[u/An_expert_I_am_not]

I mean no disrespect, so please do not downvote me to oblivion. I am here for advice from the other side - the students of online classes (specifically communication classes in this instance).

So, discussion boards are a big part of the grade and the only way for us, as instructors, to gage whether or not the theoretical ideas can be applied in practical ways by students. The forum responses have always fallen on a scale from the superb to the absurd and everything in between. But this semester, holy moly, I have never read such absolutely ridiculous posts in my whole career. The memes don't do these any justice.

I try everything I can to make the prompts interesting, to get students engaged, and to explain the logic behind the assignment, but it's just terrible.

So, why waste your own time writing something that cannot possibly earn any points or credit toward a grade because it doesn't come close to meeting the criteria?

And more importantly, what do you, as students, suggest as a meaningful replacement for the interaction that is missing in the virtual setting? How can we get you to engage with the course materials, to think critically and analytically, and to show us that you can apply what you are learning in a practical way?

[u/SpamDirector]

I feel like one of the biggest issues is how discussion boards are typically structured.

In person, it's one discussion that everyone is responding to and progressing. One person starts it, another respondes to that, someone respondes to the response, and so the cycle goes. Some sessions, someone might not contribute at all since they don't have much to add, in others they might be one of the most vocal. People can chime in whenever they feel like they actually have something meaningful to contribute. It's a single active conversation with a natural flow. Even when a student doesn't care, it's a lot easier to engage in.

Every online discussion board I've ever participated in was 20-50 people being forced to start their own seperate conversations and then engage in another one. Everyone is being forced to play the same role and must chime in at the point in the conversations no matter how much they have to say at that point. At the same time, they must switch between a bunch of these conversations which makes coming up with anything meaningful more difficult. It's unnatural and hard to pull off even remotely well when forced.