Discussion forums for assessment: a case study

Dr Francesca Haig (f.haig@chester.ac.uk)

Dr Rosie Miles et al. Online Discussion in English Studies: A Good Practice Guide (HEA, 2010)

http://www.english.heacademy.ac.uk/archive/publications/reports/onlinediscussion.pdf

Why use online forums? Permits discussions to extend beyond the seminar

room

Utilises students’ enthusiasm for online forums

Provides variety in assessment

Incorporates interactions and peer-engagement into assessment

Helpful for shyer students

Discussion forums to allow students to shape the curriculum: Students invited to use the forum to choose

authors and themes for study in EN4101 and EN6013

Some examples of topics chosen by students:

lifts/jokes/desire/addiction/baths & showers

Some examples of authors chosen by students:

Charles Bukowski, Emma Jones, Ted Hughes, Benjamin Zephaniah

EN6105 Writing the Past. Level 6 optional historical fiction module for Creative Writing students

Former assessment:

3,000 w. historical prose fiction

1,000 w. essay

New assessment:

3,000 w. historical prose fiction

1,000 w. contributions to online discussion forum

TOPIC 1: Philippa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl has generally been perceived as ‘popular’ historical fiction; Sarah Dunant’s The Birth of Venus has tended to be perceived as ‘literary’ historical fiction. Do you agree with this view of the novels? Do you think categories such as ‘popular’ and ‘literary’ are helpful ways of classifying fiction? Enter the Discussion Forum and contribute to a discussion on this topic.

TOPIC 2:

Enter the Discussion Forum and contribute to a debate on the following topic: ‘Only survivors of the Holocaust have the right to depict the experience in fiction.’

TOPIC 3: Choosing a character from any one of the novels studied in the module so far, enter the Discussion Forum ‘in character’. Your character is in a pub, where the barman has just said loudly: ‘What’s the point of going on about history? What’s past is past.’ In the voice of your chosen character, join in the conversation; respond to this statement (and/or those of your classmates), expressing your character’s attitude to history, and discussing it with the other ‘characters’ on the forum.

Guidance for students F.A.Q. in module handbook, including:

what style of writing should I use?

how many posts should I make, and how long should they be?

What do you mean ‘engage with your peers’ posts’?

What if I’m sick and miss out on one of the topics?

Examples, modelling strong and weak contributions

Formative feedback opportunities

Things that help:

Incorporate assessment

Let students become familiar with using the online forums before assessment

Provide specific tasks/topics

Give students an incentive to get involved early

Ensure topics are open for long enough

Monitor progress

Things to watch out for: The usual assessment issues remain

Limit the time you’ll spend assessing it

Stress the ‘engagement’ aspect, to avoid mini-essays

Back-up the work, and tell students to do the same

Don’t assume that all students are tech-savvy

Examples: ‘In respect of Hannah’s reference to the OED’s definition, I agree that Sarah Dunant’s ‘The Birth of Venus’ is better suited to the term literary fiction than Philippa Gregory’s ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’, which as noted in previous comments shows a number of examples of clichés, for instance, “head over heels in love” [1] and can at times provide unrealistic thought patterns, such as Mary’s internal description of her family in the opening chapter (p.1). However, even though the unfamiliarity of some of the language used by Dunant meant that I had to reread certain passages I, unlike Samantha, found that ‘The Birth of Venus’ was in fact a page turner. This I feel is due to the BBC presenter’s comment put forward by Sarah; it was the sex and politics dressed up as historical fiction that sold it to me. ‘

Examples:

‘In relation to Claire's post about The Birth of Venus currently being adapted into a film, I agree that this will possibly push the novel over into the 'Popular Fiction' category. However, Shakespeare's plays have also been transformed into films - does this make them popular rather than literary? Or, is it possible that texts can be both popular and literary?’

Examples (Topic 1): ‘I found the point that Hannah made of Sarah Gristwood labelling The Other Boleyn Girl as a ‘guilty pleasure’ rather disheartening; I can’t quite understand why anyone should feel guilty about reading it. Granted, it is not an example of exceptional writing - severe repetition of ‘desire’, the sloppy way in which she introduces family members in the first chapter [1] using modern words such as ‘legged’ [2] and a lack of any real metaphor or imagery makes it clunky in places - but it is a good story. […] It might not be historically correct in many respects, but it shouldn’t have to be. That is why it is historical fiction, not a historical biography. As Mark Saleski says on an online blog on blogcritics.org; ‘What the heck is wrong with a good story? With reading as entertainment?’[3]’

Examples (Topic 3): Beloved, from Beloved: So, you think the past is the past. But is it? For me it’s not. You see, I live in the past, I am the past. The past that haunts my mother, my killer, and all that dare to forget me. So, you think there is no point going on about history. Maybe you are right. After all, I’m not royalty like these others here, I have no great achievements outside of 124. I’m no Anne Boleyn, no household name that a barman like you will have heard of. I’m just a dead child who was born into slavery, who loves my mother, yet hates my killer. I’m history. But I represent the millions who, like me, died as slaves. We are the reason that you today will not forget.

Examples (Topic 3): Alessandra Cecchi from The Birth of Venus

I am astounded at how the women in this bar do not hold back their words. They speak out much like Erila. She has always been a free spirit.

Examples (Topic 3): King Henry VIII from The Other Boleyn Girl

Before I begin I order this infant to be removed from these intoxicating surroundings. This is no place for a child to wander. You may argue until your heads ache, an experience which Anne is now unfamiliar with. But you should always remember that I am the cause of your rises and falls. Fair Alessandra, may I have the pleasure of your presence at this end of the table?’

Examples (Topic 3): Tod Friendly from Time’s Arrow

?gnitirw cirotsih fo noitucesrep eht morf eerf ,trats hserf a nevig eb ot nam a rof ksa ot hcum oot ti si. won eht ni evil dna tegrof ot ekil tsuj dluow I, dab ro dooG. soulucidir era tsap ym fo seiroeht ruoY. erac ton od I dna era uoy ohw aedi on evah I !?rotarraN si eman fo dnik tahw ,lla fo tsriF

What the students said: Module Evaluation q. 7 (‘Did the assessment methods

seem appropriate for the content of the module?):

80%: 5 (‘Yes, extremely’)

20%: 4

‘Loved the discussion board’

‘Really liked discussion board assessment’

‘Assessments were all linked with the teaching’.

‘The discussion board topics were fun and original.’

Forum features on Moodle:

Time-restricted forums

Automatic emailing of posts