What is a substantive response
Good information for students about how to write substantive responses in online discussions
How To: Write Questions that Stimulate Discussion | Thinkfinity
Although this is about questions for discussions in a community, these are good basic guidelines for online learning discussions too. These could work as guidelines for a student-led discussion on how to write good questions.
How to Write an A+ Discussion Posting
Tips for students on how to write effective posts in online discussion boards
Developing Effective Questions for Online Discussions
Tips for online instructors (and IDs) on how to write questions for online discussions. Three types of questions are identified: factual, thought (Socratic), and problem-solving. By Judith Boettcher--this is now part of the book "The Online Teaching Survival Guide: Simple and Practical Pedagogical Tips"
Ten Best Practices for Teaching Online
10 ideas for those new to teaching online, including being present, creating a supportive community, and a number of tips on writing good discussion questions.
Learning Technology Learning: Using forums/blogs/wikis to facilitate learning: A summary
Quick comparison of when to use discussion forums, blogs/journals, and wikis for assignments,
Rubrics for Assessment
Rubrics for assessing assignments, including wiki, blog, twitter, online discussions, and more. From UW-Stout by Karen Franker and others
eLearn: Best Practices - Discussion Management Tips for Online Educators
Tips for online facilitators, especially relevant for those used to teaching in a physical classroom who are moving online. Good practical stuff here like saving some of your best stories to re-energize students when motivation is lagging late in the course and preparing discussion questions and replies in advance.
Essential Elements in Designing Online Discussions to Promote Cognitive Presence — A Practical Experience | The Sloan Consortium
JALN article on supporting cognitive presence through designing effective online discussions. The authors goal was to support meaningful interaction in the discussions rather than just playing an "assessment game" where students post the minimum required for grades. The found that discussions did promote cognitive presence and critical thinking. Registration required to read the full PDF article.
Learning in the Webiverse: How Do You Grade a Conversation?
Principles for assessing online discussions and other conversations (blogs, chat, etc.) by coherence, awareness of audience, and diction. Writing for asynchronous discussion isn't the same as writing an essay, and the author argues that students who simply post essays to the discussion board should receive good grades.
Lisa’s Online Teaching Blog » Blog Archive » A Better Discussion
JOLT: CREST+ Model: Writing Effective Online Discussion Questions
The CREST+ model, a model
for writing effective online discussion questions,
covers the cognitive nature of the question, the
reading basis, any experiential possibility, style
and type of question, and finally ways to structure
a good question. This model encourages students to
participate in online forum discussions, provides a
template for new online faculty to use in creating
effective discussion questions, and promotes a
higher level processing of the material.
The CREST+
model covers the cognitive nature of the question [C], the
reading basis [R], any experiential [E] possibility, style
and type of question [ST] , and finally ways to structure
a good question [+].