'E-tivities'

‘E-tivities’ is the name given to interactive learning activities carried out online, through a discussion board. Whilst this is predominantly a feature of online or distance courses, a discussion board can be used to maximise participation and engagement with traditional seminar work. In a fortnightly seminar timetable, if the work carried out prior to the seminar is done only by the presenter, the ensuing class discussion may be fractured or non-existent, and follow-up work minimal. If, however, the presenter submits a draft of their paper prior to the session, so that a second student can review it and prepare a number of questions with which to lead the debate, and a third takes detailed notes during the seminar and writes up a summary of the paper for the whole class, then active participation in each seminar increases. The draft, review, notes and summary and the final edited paper can all be posted at appropriate times to the discussion board, and one or all of the ‘active’ students can moderate a continued discussion on the topic beyond the time limits of the actual class. This leads to collaborative and constructive learning negotiated by the students themselves.

Last Modified: 2 August 2010