We also suggest you spend some time explaining the value of participation on the board and to establish your expectations for participation. While you are doing this, consider spending some time explaining to students how to listen to others, how to validate others’ opinions and beliefs, the usefulness of paraphrasing to clarify understanding, the importance of summarizing, and how to encourage others to participate in the discussion. Realize that many students do not know these skills intuitively and spending some time or pointing to some online resources may help students to have a more successful experience in the board.

Paraphrasing: Encourage students to paraphrase what they think the author of the post said to allow the author to clarify important points or areas of miscommunication early in the discussion.

Summarizing: Another way to check understanding is to bring together the ideas of the discussion into a condensed format to allow the discussion group to clarify the discussion and come to some common understanding of the discussion. Encourage students to summarize long threads occasionally to reframe the conversation or provide a summary for them and ask for their reaction.Talk openly with students about the power of systematic summaries to clarify discussion and to reduce misinterpretation. 

Reflective language: It is important to validate the opinion of the poster. Adding language that reflects emotions is one way to do this. Instead of merely paraphrasing the post, lead into the post with a reflective observation such as, "this topic seems really important to you…" or "you seem to have a definite opinion on this subject..."

Opening statements and probes: Reluctant posters may be drawn into the conversation by "opening statements" such as, "I sense that you have something to say on the subject" or " I sense that you feel anxious proposing that idea." Probes, especially those that are low risk, may also draw the individual into the conversation. "What do you think would happen if…?" or "From your experience, what do you think would happen if you…?"

Stay away from communication blockers: Blockers stop conversation. "Why" questions may make participants defensive. If you are too quick to reassure or if you patronize the poster, communication suffers. It is important to validate feelings and opinions, but take care to not put too much focus on the feelings and lose sight of the discussion at hand. Don’t preach or provide definitive responses that squelch discussion. Don’t dig for information when it is apparent that the poster is not ready to reveal information at that time.

Emphasize the differences between face-to-face communication and electronic communication: Electronic communication does not have the visual cues present in face-to-face communication so the potential exists for misinterpretation. Use of emoticons or clarifying statements (grin, [humor intended], my opinion only, etc.) can provide cues to reduce misinterpretation.

Encourage student-to-student learning and support: You want students to take ownership of the board. Remind students that the purpose of the board is to seek information (ask questions or ask for support) and to provide information (post new resources or findings). You want students to seek support from each other before seeking support from you. One of the techniques that might be useful to support these types of behaviors is: Ask Three Before Me. This technique requires students to ask (and document) three other students before asking for help from the instructor.

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