Introductory Lesson #1 Online Discussion Code of Conduct
Time Frame: 1 day o Discuss quality discussions – what makes a good conversation?
o Why converse online? What may change in online discussions?
o Introduce the online discussion environment – establish the purpose for the discussions.
o Generate a Code of Conduct to guide our online discussions. Consider the things that are unique to online conversations but also important to face to face discussion.
o Include the Code of Conduct and Parent Letter (consent for students 13 years or younger) and Registration instructions home to be signed by parents
o Teacher must remember to approve student membership on Collaborize Classroom before the next lesson.
Introductory Lesson #2 Student Practice - Quality Conversation
Time Frame: 1 week o Review the Code of Conduct
o Introduce the Collaborize Classroom environment. Establish that the purpose of our first sets of posts/discussions are to develop the standards and guidelines of quality posts and discussion.
o Students should do first “Ice Breaker” Activity which is automatically posted in the Collaborize Classroom forum.
** Use the posts as a reference for building the rubric for quality posts
** Introduce Sentence Starters and Dos and Don’ts with the students as reference materials to improve next posts.
o Students should complete the second “Ice Breaker” Activity
** Highlight any improvements
** Students can try to find examples of each type of posting from the Student Rubric
** If necessary, begin to develop a rubric to assess online participation. Explain that students will have the opportunity to select a topic at the end of the unit to be evaluated using the rubric.
o Students can complete the third “Ice Breaker” Activity
** At this time, students can select the conversation from the three ice breakers to practice using the student checklist and online discussion rubric to highlight areas for improvement and modify the tools if necessary.