August 1998 — Features

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Eight Ways to Get Students More Engaged in Online Conferences

The teacher might say, for example, that everyone will get an A, B, or C for the peer helping portion of the final grade, depending on the peer helping ratings. The ratings might be in the form of "superior, good, fair, poor," or some equivalent. Another possibility is to have each student name the one student in the group who helped them the most. Students who are named more than once might get bonus points on the final grade. A similar approach could be used with a ranking scheme. Students with the best ranks get the most bonus points on the final grade.

W.R. (Bill) Klemm is a professor at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.
E-mail: wklemm@vetmed.tamu.edu


Editor's Note: The author originally presented this paper at the Teaching in the Community Colleges online conference (April 7-9, 1998).

References:

1. Eisley, M. E. (1991), Guidelines for Conducting Instructional Discussions on a Computer Conference, paper presented at the International Symposium on Computer Conferencing, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.

2. Schmier, L. (1995), Random Thoughts. The Humanity of Teaching, Madison, WI: Magna Publications.

3. Gabbert, B., Johnson, D.W., and Johnson, R. (1986), "Cooperative learning, group-to-individual transfer, process gain, and the acquisition of cognitive reasoning strategies," Journal of Psychology, 120, pp. 265-278.

4. Johnson, D.W., Skon, L., and Johnson, R.T. (1980), "Effects of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic conditions on children's problem-solving performance," American Educational Research Journal, 17, pp. 83-94.

5. Johnson, D.W., and Johnson, R. (1981), "Effects of cooperative and individualistic learning experiences on inter-ethnic interaction," Journal Educational Psychology, 73, pp. 454-459.

6. Johnson, D.W., and Johnson, R.T. (1989), Cooperation and Competition: Theory and Research, Edina, MN: Interaction Book Co.

7. Kadel, S., and Keehner, J. A. (Eds.) (1994), Collaborative Learning. A Sourcebook for Higher Education (Vol. 2), University Park, PA: National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning and Assessment.

8. Kaye, A.R. (Ed.) (1991), Collaborative Learning Through Computer Conferencing, Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

9. Klemm, W.R. (1995), "Computer conferencing as a cooperative learning environment," Cooperative Learning and College Teaching, 5(3), pp. 11-13.

10. McComb, M. (1993), "Augmenting a group discussion course with computer-mediated communication in a small college setting," Interpersonal Computing and Technology, 1(3), Archived as McComb IPCTV1N3 on Listserv@GUVM.

11. Nierenberg, G.I. (1982), The Art of Creative Thinking, New York, NY: Barnes and Noble.

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