Summary: Write discussion starters that encourage conversation, debate, and anything other than yes/no answers.
The vast majority of online platforms now come with a comments section. Generally they’re used to express opinions on the content, other commenters, and completely irrelevant topics. Comments sections are not places that you usually go to for insight and wisdom.
Comments sections are, however, a great tool for social learning. So how do you make sure that comments sections are actually useful rather than examples of Godwin’s Law?
Discussion prompts are an answer to this. They’re the little questions that you’ll see at the top of all our comment sections. Writing a good discussion prompt can reinforce learning and create an environment where learners can gain valuable insights from one another.
How to add a discussion starter
You add discussion prompts to a learning experience by going to Learning Experiences > Your Learning Experience > Manage Content > Social settings. Full details are available in the manage content guide.
Closed vs open questions
A closed question is one that invites specific and short answers. For example, the question “was this learning useful to you?” will encourage learners to say "yes" or "no". You might hope that learners who are voluntarily taking your course will decide to elaborate when faced with a closed question and explain that “yes it was useful because I had no idea that wasps are just thin angry bees”. Experience has taught me that this isn’t the case. Learners tend to take the path of least resistance.
It’s very easy to convert that closed question into an open question: “Was this learning useful to you? Why?” Just make sure your question can’t be answered with a simple "yes" or "no".
Inclusive questions
Here we have what appears to be a good example of an open question, but look closer, what’s wrong with it?
The question assumes that all participants have some sort of MOOC experience, which some of course may not. So whilst it is an open question, it’s not particularly inclusive. Here’s how we improved it.
Encourage reflection
Reflection reinforces learning. Use your discussion prompt to get learners to reflect on what they learned. Ask them how they’re going to apply this to their work or if they agree with certain aspects of the content.
Encourage contributions
Your learners are great learning resources. You can use discussion prompts to encourage them to share their experiences and insights with questions like “what did you do when faced with this situation in your work?”
Your learners are also curators. They will have used many other tools and resources in their work and a comments section allows them to share them. In the LXP you can also use a User Generated Content section to ask learners to upload files, record videos, or share their thoughts in response to a specific brief.
Stimulate debate
We know that many people face challenges in their work in terms of implementing new ideas, practices, and processes. In this question we asked participants to argue against a seemingly obvious ‘good idea’. This is a good way to get people to consider other stakeholders’ perspectives and to have a response already prepared.
Use diversity to your advantage
Sometimes it’s difficult for participants to ‘see the woods for the trees’ especially when they’ve been so siloed within a specific sector or industry. This question asked people to respond by stating which sector/ industry they were in and then invited others to reply to that with a suggestion about how VR/AR could be used, thus providing a fresh, unbiased perspective.
One client designed a course that was aimed at their sales teams. They took the opportunity to bring ‘the customer’ into as many questions/ scenarios as they could.
Follow up
The great thing about social learning is that you can respond to your learners. Make sure to praise those who share something interesting, ask learners to share their work if you think it will benefit others, and answer any questions that are posed to you. Learning works better as a conversation than as a monologue.
Don’t half-arse it
Finally, don’t half-arse it. Never put a discussion prompt in just because you feel like you should. A bad discussion prompt will result in unhelpful comments and confusion among learners. If you really can’t think of anything, you’re better off leaving it out.
Good luck!