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Effective Email Communication to Engage Students

By Jessica O'Neel
September 22, 2022

Imagine you’ve had a busy day teaching on campus. You return to your office and get ready to grade some papers. You check your email quickly and see this message from a student who hasn’t been very active in your UWEX course:

Hello Professor,
I noticed that I have a very low grade in your course, and as we are getting close to the end of the term, I am wondering what I can do to improve my score. Would it be possible to turn in some of my late assignments? ​
Thank you,​
Student

Has this ever happened to you? How do you feel when you receive these types of messages from students? While it may be easy to dismiss a message like this as simple procrastination, the good news is that the student wants to reengage in your course! It is tempting to send a quick reply telling the student what they need to turn in or fix. Digging deeper into a student’s needs will help them feel connected to you and the course. Research has shown that when students disengage, those who feel supported and connected are more likely to reengage compared to those who don’t.

Here are some example conversation starters and questions you could try with students to support them in self-motivation to reengage in a course:

GOAL PHRASE
When students share struggles in the course, build empathy.
  • That sounds like a real challenge for you…
  • I can see why it has been hard for you to…
Help students recognize strengths and how to apply them to other parts of the course by mixing the positive with the negative. Use “yet” or “and” instead of “but” to reduce defensiveness and ensure positive feedback is received.
  • I’ve noticed your quiz scores are great, yet I wonder if we could try working on your writing skills.
  • Your written assignments are well done, and I think you could use that to help strengthen your discussion posts.
  • You did really well on this other assignment. What was different about this one?
Praise students for taking the time to ask for help and identify shared goals.
  • I’m so happy you reached out.
  • I really want you to do well in this course, too.

Questions to Build Deeper Understanding for Change

Using guiding questions helps students discover what is needed to change. Asking closed questions (questions with a yes or no answer) might mean students respond with what they think you want to hear and not what they actually need. Try some of these open-ended guiding questions instead of yes or no questions.

GOAL PHRASE
Identify barriers or make students aware of barriers. How has…created problems for you?
Understand student anxiety. What worries you about…? (i.e., grade, performance, etc.)
Ensure you understand student meaning. If I’m understanding you right, it sounds like… (repeat back student’s answer)
Identify motivation. How important is it for you to do this…?
Assess a student’s readiness to change. How confident are you to do this…?
Highlight past “wins”/success strategies. What difficult goals have you accomplished in the past?
Identify student needs.
  • What would you like me to do to help?
  • How long of an extension are you hoping to get?
  • When would you be able to turn in this late assignment?
Connect choices and consequences. How did skipping two weeks make the assignment more difficult for you?
Help a student get started.  What’s the first thing you might try to…?

An Example

Take a look at this email to see these in action. Can you spot the techniques mentioned above? Click the plus (+) signs to see if you are correct!

This article is based on a conference presentation by Liz Seitz and Jessica O’Neel entitled “Engaging the Disengaged Student: Motivating Change from Within,” which was presented at the UW Extended Campus 2022 Collaborative Online Programs Faculty Symposium, May 24-25, 2022, Middleton, WI, United States. https://ce.uwex.edu/faculty-symposium/

Faculty Spotlight: Jean Marsch

By Kerri Patton
September 15, 2022

In this issue’s “Faculty Spotlight,” instructional designer Kerri Patton interviews Professor Jean Marsch about strategies to strengthen instructor presence in online courses. When teaching online, instructors have to compensate for their lack of physical presence in the classroom by engaging with their online students creatively and regularly. Here are some favorite strategies that Prof. Marsch uses in her course HIMT 415: Human Resource Management in Healthcare to build a rapport with her online students and increase her presence in the course.

Jean MarschProf. Marsch is an Associate Lecturer at UW-Green Bay and teaches in the Bachelor of Science in Health Information Management and Technology (HIMT) program. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from UW-Madison and an MBA from UW-Oshkosh. She was the Chief Human Resources Officer for Green Bay Public Schools and the Director of Human Resources at St. Vincent Hospital in Green Bay. She was also elected to and a member of the Green Bay School Board for 15 years. For 10 years, she served as the School Board’s president.

 

Kerri PattonKerri Patton is an instructional designer with UW-Extended Campus. She holds bachelor degrees in English Literature and German from UW-Eau Claire, a Master’s of Educational Technology from Boise State University, and a Graduate Certificate in Online Teaching from Boise State University. Prior to her current role, she served as an instructional designer with the UW MBA Consortium/UW Undergraduate Business Alliance. For 10 years, she was the German language instructor (Levels 1-AP) and German American Partnership Program coordinator for Memorial High School in Eau Claire, as well as a district instructional technology liaison. She also taught English in Germany as a U.S. Fulbright scholar. She began her career as a project coordinator and assessment report writer for Personnel Decisions International and a Desktop and Helpdesk Support Technician for UW-Eau Claire. 

Interview

What tools or strategies do you use to connect with students in your course so they know you are “present”?

Throughout HIMT 415: Human Resource Management in Healthcare, students take on the role of the newly hired manager of a health information management department in a fictitious hospital. They are divided into two discussion groups and alternate between responding to human resource issues posed in the scenarios or reflecting on the issues through discussion prompts. There is no perfect solution to the issues, but students are able to analyze various approaches to the issues using the concepts in the lecture, text, readings, and past or current employment. [Note: This type of activity is called a fishbowl discussion. You can reach out to your instructional designer if you would like to use a similar activity in your course.]

Screenshot of a Canvas Fishbowl Discussion
Screenshot of a fishbowl discussion set up in the Canvas learning management system

I connect with each student at least every week and write a response that is specific to their work. I feel it is important to respond timely to each student’s work, so I strive to do so within a day or two of the due date. In my response, I comment on the points they made and add additional supporting details, often making connections through my personal experiences in nursing and/or human resources. If a student’s response lacks depth and demonstrates little analysis, I encourage them by sharing examples of what additional information may be helpful to explain their ideas. I may also refer to a section of the text to supplement my responses.

Which of these strategies is your favorite? Which do you think is most effective?

I feel strongly that the content of this course can benefit students in current and future employment, and personally. For example, when we explore the issues around effective recruitment and retention, I encourage students to think not only about compensation, but all the other factors that are at play. When we study the chapter on benefits, students often comment that they took a second look at the benefits offered by their employer and came to appreciate not only the health and dental plans, but disability insurance, tuition assistance, paid time off, and more. By sharing the list of benefits (other than health insurance) that they consider most important, students comment on how they changed their thinking about the importance of benefits and that they will pay close attention when looking for employment. We relate this to how organizations can promote a full array of benefits when they develop recruitment materials.

Is there a story or example you would be willing to share about a time when developing a connection and presence in the course helped a student be successful?

One of the assignments in the course consists of writing a resume, cover letter, and reference list. When I first taught this class, I wondered if this lesson would be helpful to students who might find this assignment merely busywork. My concern was unfounded when I received a great deal of immediate feedback from students who appreciated my critiques. A student stated that after submitting the updated documents, an interview was scheduled within 24 hours. Clearly, this was not the only reason for the interview. However, I inform students that well-prepared application materials are often the first opportunity for a candidate to present themselves to an employer and therefore must be carefully and accurately prepared.

After each lesson, I send an announcement that summarizes the points of the lesson . . . I may call attention to a reading or share a recent and relevant article. Most often, I share an experience from my work that demonstrates how the concepts relate to HR and leadership practices.

How does your connection to students provide increased learning opportunities?

After each lesson, I send an announcement that summarizes the points of the lesson and I include important points or themes shared by students. I may call attention to a reading or share a recent and relevant article. Most often, I share an experience from my work that demonstrates how the concepts relate to HR and leadership practices.

How does your connection to students impact student performance or engagement?

I find that my students are very engaged in the lessons. They demonstrate engagement through responses to other students and me in which they share insights from their current or past employment, based on the topic of the lesson. For example, they may share how important it is to be able to balance work and family commitments or the impact that a supervisor and tuition assistance through an employer had on their decision to continue their education. We then translate these ideas into ways to structure a new position to retain staff. In our class scenarios, which were developed as real-world situations, the students are the supervisors. Through their participation in the scenarios, they learn that the decisions they make directly impact the ability to recruit and retain staff.

What was difficult at first about maintaining a presence in your course? How did you overcome that difficulty?

When I first taught the course, I was unsure of how much and the type of feedback to offer students. Based on input from students, I found that they appreciate feedback that enhances their ability to think deeper about an issue. When I get responses such as, “I never thought about this before,” or “I never realized that…,” or “I am going to add that to my staff evaluations,” I realize that the lessons and my personalized feedback make an impact.

Facilitating Online Social Presence

By Kerri Patton

Introduction

Students report greater satisfaction in online courses where they perceive instructors to be active and engaged—that is, “socially present.” In the absence of their physical presence, online educators must establish a strong virtual presence with students to foster and sustain connectedness for the duration of a course. These connections are key to building a strong community of learning, which is a motivating factor for all learners. Read on for three straightforward strategies you can use in your online classroom to ramp up your social presence and foster connection with your students.

Create a Social Presence Plan

Developing an online course takes plenty of time and a great deal of planning. Once your curriculum is developed, your learning materials are chosen and vetted, and your class is constructed and published online, you might think your work is done. Good news: much of it is! To ensure all your efforts pay off when it’s “go time,” don’t forget to create a social presence plan that maps out how you will build, foster, and sustain meaningful and consistent engagement for the duration of your course. This plan might include strategies for items such as:

  • Posting Announcements: How often will you post? What type of information will you share? How will you share this information (written, audio, video)? What announcement content can you create ahead of time so it can be repurposed each term?
  • Giving Feedback: What level of feedback will you offer your students? Which assignments will you target for customized feedback? How will you deliver this feedback (written, audio, video)?
  • Participating in Discussions: When will you enter the conversation? As the subject-matter expert, how can you further a discussion without smothering it? How will you encourage more participation from group members? How will you intercede if group members get off track?
  • Holding Synchronous Office Hours: How will you structure office hours to encourage participation? How can you purpose office hours to achieve particular goals (e.g., live working sessions, interactive Q&As, collaborative problem-solving, etc.)?

Customize Announcements

Published right at the top of all Canvas courses, course announcements are located in a high-traffic area that is convenient for learners to engage with every time they log in to a course. Take advantage of this “prime real estate” by regularly using announcements. Doing so is an easy way to increase your presence and build a rapport with your students. Here are different types of announcements you might use in your course:

  • Regular Weekly Announcements: Start students off on the right foot by letting them know what’s to come in the week ahead. You can also highlight important due dates.
    Screenshot of weekly announcements in a Canvas course
    Screenshot of a list of regular weekly announcements posted in a Canvas course
  • Content-Specific Announcements: Hook students into a new unit or lesson by posting an enticing introduction that grabs their attention. Inject your energy and expertise into a topic by offering concentrated bursts of content-rich information that relates directly to what students are learning. Sell learners on “What’s in it for me?” and increase their interest in your topic by explaining how they will benefit from what’s being taught.
    Screenshot of a content-specific announcement
    Screenshot of a content-specific announcement
  • “Lesson Wrap-Up” Announcements: Extend student learning by wrapping up what’s just been covered and connecting it to the real world. Students want your subject-matter expertise—here’s a great chance to weigh in.
    Screenshot of a "Lesson Wrap-Up" Announcement
    Screenshot of a “lesson wrap-up” announcement
  • Solutions-Based Announcements: Offer helpful hints to students as they work through their assignments. Posting homework help and worked examples for students to reference as they complete their work is a fantastic way to guide their learning.
    Screenshot of a Solutions-Based Announcement (Homework Help)
    Screenshot of a solutions-based (homework help) announcement
  • “Just-in-Time” Announcements: Broadcast logistical updates as needed to alert students to important information that will affect them. Examples include updates to course content, technical issues, grading information, etc.
    Screenshot of a Just-in-Time Announcement
    Screenshot of a “just-in-time” announcement
  • Connection Announcements: Connect course content to the real world. Adult learners want to take what they’re learning in class and apply it to their lives and professions. Use announcements to show them how those arenas connect. Additionally, use announcements to connect your students to relevant job and professional development opportunities and/or resources that encourage them to engage with the subject matter more in-depth outside of class.
    Screenshot of a Connection Announcement Highlighting Additional Opportunities for Students Outside of Class
    Screenshot of a connection announcement advertising additional opportunities to students

Bonus Tip: Enabling the commenting feature on your announcements will encourage additional student-to-teacher and student-to-student interactions, which helps build community!

Give Prompt, High-Quality Feedback

Ensure that the feedback you offer to students is prompt. Being prompt in your replies will teach learners that they can rely on you to be present and responsive, which models professionalism and builds trust. Whether returning student calls, replying to questions in discussion forums, responding to student emails, or grading assignments and giving feedback, your timeliness matters to students so they get the information they need to make progress in your course.

Similarly, the quality of your feedback matters. Adult learners desire your expertise. They want your feedback to reflect on, learn from, and inform their current and future academic and professional efforts. Though it might be tempting to allow Canvas to auto-grade assignments, leaving students tailored comments, questions, insights, and suggestions for improvement is better for their learning. Giving customized feedback (via text, audio, or video comments in Speedgrader) is yet another way to beef up your presence in the course as learners can interact with your comments and respond.

Bonus Tip: Saving commonly used feedback for reuse (in a Word document, Excel file, etc.) is one way to make the grading process quicker. Just don’t forget to review and edit what you’ve written each time you copy it into Speedgrader Comments to ensure it’s accurate and fine-tuned for each student.

This article is based on a conference presentation by Kerri Patton and Terry Tao entitled “Facilitating Online Social Presence,” which was presented at the UW Extended Campus 2022 Collaborative Online Programs Faculty Symposium, May 24-25, 2022, Middleton, WI, United States. https://ce.uwex.edu/faculty-symposium/

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Step Up Your Students’ Motivation Using Personalized Feedback

By Brian Chervitz
September 1, 2022

It can be difficult knowing how to increase student motivation in your online course. But online learning has a ton of ways to raise engagement and students’ motivation! This article focuses on the ways that providing kinds of personalized feedback can ensure your students are getting the resources and comments that best address their needs.

How to Use This Article

Use the following article in the way best suited for your needs:

  • Read Step 1 if you want the most important information and a simple example. This is for faculty who just want the abstract or are looking for an easy way to improve their instruction.
  • Also read Step 2 if you want to implement more advanced personalized feedback. This is for faculty who want to improve their quality of feedback and want more than the basics.
  • Continue to Step 3 if you want to learn more about using personalized feedback throughout your course, beyond just assignments. This is for faculty who are open to changing different parts of their course. Your instructional designer can help you incorporate personalized feedback into your course!

Step 1: Introduction to Personalized Feedback

Personalized feedback is not new. Grades and comments from instructors are foundational in any course. But effective feedback should be more personalized than a letter grade or a simple “Nice job!” or “Try again!” Providing adaptive and personalized feedback can help students perform better in the course, become more self-regulated learners, and stay motivated to complete the coursework (Maier & Klotz, 2022). Plus, students prefer personalized feedback over general comments (Cramp, 2011), and it motivates them to put more effort into a course.

Teaching a large survey course, an asynchronous online course, or both limits how realistic it is to provide personalized feedback to all learners on all learning tasks (Planar & Moya, 2016). Still, feedback is crucial for helping students learn, improve their capabilities, and become effective practitioners in their fields. Furthermore, offering timely feedback can be a challenge too, but it is critical for the learning process that feedback comes just in time for students to practice and improve their skills.

The Best Feedback Is Formative

Feedback is most effective when it comes during the learning process rather than at the end (this is the difference between formative and summative assessments). Giving timely and constructive feedback helps learners improve their knowledge and skills while practicing them before they are assessed for a summative grade. Consider having students submit drafts of their work so you can reinforce strong skills or correct misconceptions early. Another advantage of formative feedback is that there is no grade attached. Detailed feedback tends to be skipped when a summative grade is provided as well (Underwood, 2008).

One important characteristic of strong formative feedback is its actionability. Students should be able to take feedback and immediately know how to use it to improve their work. Reference the criteria for success for the assignment or the overall learning goals of the course when giving specific, actionable feedback as well.

Finally, provide a method for students to engage with the feedback. Develop a way for students to ask follow-up questions based on the comments and suggestions for improvement. Students’ reactions can also inform the instructor on the best ways to provide feedback, especially critical or constructive comments, moving forward. Try offering to meet to discuss the feedback during office hours that week, or even include a link for students to schedule an appointment with you directly in the feedback you provide.

An Example of Personalized Feedback

The most common form of personalized feedback in Canvas is probably the SpeedGrader comment. While using SpeedGrader, instructors have access to a comment box where they can provide praise for excellent work and suggestions for revisions or edits to improve their work. There, instructors can provide summaries of their feedback, explanations of their overall grades, or links to resources. The image below shows an example of a comment on a draft of a research paper. The comment helps the student identify their strengths and their weaknesses in a succinct manner. Ideally, the comment is paired with more in-depth comments within the paper itself.

A screenshot of a comment in which the faculty praises and offers specific constructive feedback.
Image 1: Personalized feedback provided as a SpeedGrader Comment.

Step 2: More Advanced Personalized Feedback

Personalizing suggestions for improvement and praise for student work sounds easy enough, but a serious gap between students’ expectations for feedback and what instructors give is unfortunately common. Carless (2006) identified a discrepancy between the students’ and instructors’ perceptions of how detailed feedback is. Instructors tend to overestimate how detailed and useful their comments are compared to how their students perceive those same comments. One cause of the discrepancy is that students often don’t understand the feedback because they can’t decipher how to use it to improve their work (Planar & Moya, 2016). The feedback coming too late to be useful for students’ learning is another problem (McConlogue, 2020).

In order to be effective, feedback should address multiple components of the learning task and process (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). When providing high-quality personalized feedback, consider the following five areas:

The task: What is the student doing or producing?

Different disciplines require different types of feedback. Is the student’s work authentic and realistic to the field of study? If proficiency in a particular skill (e.g., MS Excel calculations or pronouncing words such as in the image below) is important, the feedback should focus on correcting errors or misconceptions that could lead to errors. In the example below, the instructor could record themselves correcting a mispronunciation. On the other hand, more abstract thinking requires feedback to focus on concepts like organization and sequencing of thoughts and the connections between ideas.

A screenshot of a quiz question asking students to record themselves saying many French words.
Image 2: Faculty can record themselves demonstrating a skill in which a student is deficient, such a pronouncing a word in French.

In addition, the feedback should help students produce authentic artifacts of learning or act like a practitioner in the field. Instructors often do such when teaching citation styles, but feedback could also include information on how to effectively present information in a meeting, use appropriate scientific notation in a lab journal, or write a methods section in an ethnographic study.

The processes: Does the student think and work like a practitioner? How is the student evaluated?

When preparing a presentation at a business meeting, conducting a scientific experiment, or participating in an ethnographic study, are students doing so in the most effective, authentic way? Feedback throughout the processes of learning can help correct procedural errors or misconceptions in a student’s way of thinking.

Further, are students practicing the skills or using the knowledge they need for their assessments? Feedback can help identify the ways students can improve their work to better align with the criteria for success outlined in the course.

Self-regulation: How well does the student plan, set goals, seek help, manage time, etc.?

Feedback can be a powerful tool for helping students reflect on their self-regulation skills. If the quality of their work suffers as a result of poor time management or a lack of planning out their work, students can find feedback helpful in that regard as well. Suggest ways that students can utilize tools (ideally ones that would be accessible or even expected in the field) to perform more effectively. Improving self-regulation is a great benefit of personalized feedback (Wang & Lehman, 2021; Maier & Klotz, 2022). Student motivation and engagement also benefit from more robust self-regulation skills (Planar & Moya, 2016).

The student: How well does the instructor know the student?

Knowing the student (their goals, career aspirations, prior experiences, content knowledge, etc.) is helpful for personalizing feedback. The example pictured below shows instructions for an introductory discussion post in which students describe themselves, including their current careers or career goals. The instructor can then use that initial discussion board to reference this information about students when providing feedback relevant to their careers. It can be greatly motivating for students to revise and improve their work when they see the benefit to their goals or future, or when they feel the instructor is invested in their success.

A discussion board instructing students to provide their name, career goals, and hobbies.
Image 3: Faculty can use introductory discussion boards to curate important information from their students to use in their feedback when appropriate.

The relationship: How does the instructor work with the students?

The way instructors understand their role in the learning process affects the quality and the results of the feedback they give. Students are not motivated by feedback from instructors with an authoritative, controlling presence in the course (McConlogue, 2020). A relationship built on mentorship provides more motivating feedback, whether it’s praise or constructive criticism.

Personalized feedback also greatly benefits students from underrepresented or marginalized groups, especially during their first year in college (Espinoza & Genna, 2021). Having a positive relationship with faculty is a great motivator for students who cannot rely on family or friends to help them navigate the (often unspoken) norms of higher education. In these instances, personalized feedback from instructors is even more important.

Step 3: Personalized Feedback Beyond a SpeedGrader Comment

Thank you for investing in improving the quality of your feedback! By reading this section, you will be well positioned to provide high-quality personalized feedback, even beyond the comment box of SpeedGrader. There are many ways you can offer positive and constructive comments throughout your course.

Audio and Visual Feedback

The written word just doesn’t provide as much information as quickly as the spoken word. A video can convey tone, body language, and facial expressions while the instructor is speaking. In addition, feedback is best delivered in a similar cadence as the student’s work, so a video or audio clip could be more appropriate than a written comment, such as for a foreign language or art course. You might find that students respond more to video recordings of your comments than typed ones, and the video comments might be faster than typing them, anyway!

Canvas SpeedGrader allows you to upload audiovisual files into the grading interface. In 2022, Canvas also integrated the use of emoji into the comment box, which could be an easy way to visually share your tone without recording an audiovisual file.

Performance Recording Comments and Suggestions

Beyond recording a video of your comments, you might upload a video of you providing feedback on a student-uploaded video! For instance, if you were the instructor of a course on public speaking, you might record yourself with the student’s recorded speech, pausing their recording to offer praise and suggestions for improvement. A computer science instructor might have a student who is having trouble with some software record their screen when they encounter the problem, then the instructor can record a video on how to fix that problem!

Product Comments, Edits, Revisions, and Annotations

Within Canvas, instructors are not limited to the comment box within SpeedGrader. When students submit documents or files, instructors can download them and offer comments, edits, revisions, and annotations within that file (e.g., a Microsoft Word document or a Google Spreadsheet). Then, the instructor can re-upload the annotated and revised version of the student’s work to SpeedGrader for the student to review.

Email Check-Ins

Whether scheduled or only on an as-needed basis, reaching out to students through email is a great opportunity not only to develop a strong relationship with them but also to provide them with personalized feedback. Instructors can offer praise or suggestions for improvement based on recent student submissions or reach out with advice or their own experiences to connect with students and motivate them further.

Announcements

While not everyone loves this, many people appreciate a public shout-out for good work! Instructors can use the Announcements feature in Canvas to highlight great work, strong effort, and effective collaboration (or any other positive behavior the instructor wants to see in their course). A weekly announcement that instructors post to improve their presence in the class, connect materials to current events, and/or provide important time-sensitive information can also add a “Student Shout-Out” section. It might be worthwhile to reach out to the student beforehand to get their permission to give them the shout-out, as sometimes public praise can be demotivating for people.

“Message Students Who…”

Canvas makes it easy for instructors to reach out to students according to certain criteria, such as those who earned a specific grade, haven’t yet started an assignment, or had the assignment reassigned to them for revisions. Canvas will dynamically change the address list, but you have to supply the email subject line and body of the message. The message itself is where you can include feedback specific to each group of students. For example, in the image below, the instructor is messaging all the students who have not yet turned in their assignment, including reminders of their office hours and how students can contact them with questions or concerns they have in the email.

A screenshot of an email to students who haven't completed an assignment reminding them to turn it in.
Image 4: Instructors can target messages to specific students to provide more personalized feedback than a course-wide email.

Discussion Boards

Designing an effective discussion board assignment involves more work than just requiring a post and a comment (Berry, 2022). A strong discussion board assignment can facilitate the opportunity for students to provide personalized feedback to each other! If they know the criteria for success and appropriate norms for providing constructive criticism, a peer’s feedback can be a powerful tool for improvement.

Peer Review

Students themselves can provide important feedback to each other, not only in written comments but also through comparisons between work and norms established by the instructor. Students who review a peer’s work not only assess their peer’s submission against the instructor-provided rubric but also compare their peer’s work against their own. Further, by using the rubric as an instructor might, students are getting important perspectives on how rubrics can guide their work. This kind of feedback is especially useful for students, as they often don’t take the perspective of the instructor very often. Finally, the actual written comments students provide each other can be useful, as they can include perspectives or feedback the instructor might not.

Contribute to This Article

If you have a great example of any of the forms of personalized feedback, we would love to share it with our instructors to help make each course at UW Extended Campus as excellent as possible!

In addition, let us know if you use a way of sharing personalized feedback not mentioned in this article. It could be the next innovative spark to help someone else level up their students’ motivation.

Email Brian Chervitz at brian.chervitz@uwex.wisconsin.edu with your ideas.

References

Berry, L. (2022, July 15). A framework for increasing critical thinking, student engagement, and knowledge construction in online discussion. IDigest. https://ce.uwex.edu/a-framework-for-increasing-critical-thinking-student-engagement-and-knowledge-construction-in-online-discussions/

Carless, D. (2006). Differing perceptions in the feedback process. Studies in Higher Education, 31(2), 219–233. http://doi.org/10.1080/03075070600572132.

Cramp, A. (2011). Developing first-year engagement with written feedback. Active Learning in Higher Education, 12, 113–124.

Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81-112.  http://doi.org/10.3102/003465430298487.

Maier, U., & Klotz, C. (2022). Personalized feedback in digital learning environments: Classification framework and literature review. Computer and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2022.100080.

McConlogue, T. (2020). Assessment and feedback in higher education: A guide for teachers. UCL Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv13xprqb.2.

Merry, S., & Orsmond, P. (2008). Students’ attitudes to and usage of academic feedback provided via audio files. Bioscience Education, 11.

Planar, D. & Moya, S. (2016). The effectiveness of instructor personalized and formative feedback provided by instructor in an online setting: Some unresolved issues. The Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 14(3), 196-203.

Underwood, J. S., & Tregidgo, A. P. (2008). Improving student writing through effective feedback: Best practices and recommendations. Journal of Teaching Writing, 22(2), 73-97.

A Framework for Increasing Critical Thinking, Student Engagement, and Knowledge Construction in Online Discussions

By Laurie Berry
July 15, 2022

Many faculty at UW Extended Campus use discussion strategies to engage their students and push them into higher levels of learning. From research, we know such strategies are necessary because most discussions do not naturally lead to higher levels of thinking (Darabi et al., 2011). Many instructors we have talked to have noticed this problem in their own courses—discussions can often feel like busywork or small talk. To achieve deeper discussions that show evidence of critical thinking and promote student engagement, research shows that your best bet is to provide the structure to make that happen (Brokensha & Greyling, 2015; Jarosewich et al., 2010). How do you create that structure? The Framework for Student Engagement and Critical Thinking can be used to provide the structure and support that will guide students into a deeper and more meaningful discussion and engage not only with the content but also with their peers. This five-component framework, developed out of research performed by Laurie Berry and Kristin Kowal (Berry & Kowal, 2022), can be used as a guide to help you add more dimension to your discussions.

High-Level View of Framework
The Framework for Student Engagement and Critical Thinking

Framework Component 1: Detailed Instructions and Clear Expectations

What is it?

Just like we can set up someone for success on a cross-country road trip with a good map, we can set up students for success with detailed instructions and clear expectations on how to approach the discussion. Research shows that when clear guidelines are in place, students can reach higher levels of learning (Gao et al., 2009). Now, this is not new. In online course design, there is a strong need for having clear expectations.

Example language

Below is what clear and detailed instructions might look like in a course:

Example of Instructions

The main idea of this framework component is to provide more guidance before the discussion starts, much like the detailed map for the road trip. The goal is to get students to show evidence that they are thinking more critically. Adding a purpose statement and criteria for success encourages students to push further and move beyond superficial discussion.

Framework Component 2: Share Thought Process

What is it?

The next framework component invites students to share their thought processes in their posts. This is comparable to the think-aloud process that you might already be using in your courses. Urging students to share their thought processes can uncover more detail and depth, which, in turn, can create more opportunities for meaningful discussion.

Example language

How does this component transfer to an online asynchronous discussion? The following is an example of language you can include in your instructions: “You can show evidence of critical thinking by sharing your thought process in doing the activity for all to see.” With this framework component, students are encouraged to share their thought processes from the start.

Framework Component 3: Prompt Discussion with Questions

What is it?

The third framework component asks students to pose questions to invite more discussion with their peers. Asking students to probe deeper and include questions in their posts can uncover areas that they may be struggling with or thinking about. By directing students to do this, you will help invite others to easily join in the discussion conversation and enable students to not only engage with the content but also with each other. You may even notice the discussion including elements of problem-solving and critical thinking, which are strong indicators of the students digging deeper. It can be rare to see students asking questions in their posts. However, when you ask students to include questions in their posts, they will answer the questions posed. Posting questions opens the door for others to easily join in the discussion.

Example language

You can invite students to ask questions or share their reflections by including language like the following in the instructions: “Ask questions of others in your post or reflect on something you may be struggling with or thinking about.”

Framework Component 4: Weave Evidence into Post

What is it?

You may have noticed this, but often when students are asked to use sources with their discussion, they merely post a link at the bottom of their post without referencing it in the discussion itself. This framework component focuses on weaving evidence or sources into the body of the discussion. Research has shown that most discussion prompts do not ask students to refer to materials to support their answers (Jarosewich et al., 2010). Directing students to weave their references into the discussion allows you and others to quickly identify where or how they learned the information rather than assuming the information is tied to something the student may have read.

Example language

Here is an example of language that can be added to the instructions: “Post an opinion or solution from your point of view and weave in evidence to support it. Remember to reference the resources used to provide the evidence.”

Framework Component 5: Reflection

What is it?

After a learning activity, students have developed so much new knowledge and connections, and you want to capture that gained information. This final framework component invites students to share what they have learned or experienced from the activity. It can be powerful to ask students to reflect on how they might have changed based on a learning experience. Adding a reflection component to your discussions can illuminate where construction of new knowledge has occurred. Including this component will take more time for students, but it is helpful for them to be able to synthesize not only their thoughts but also the thoughts and perspectives they gain from others.

Example language

In a discussion post, you can include a reflection component with questions like these to uncover any kind of transformation that has happened during the activity: “Did you learn anything new? Did you change your mind about anything? How have you deepened or expanded your own thinking?”

The process of digging deeper and constructing new knowledge commands a level of attention from students that signifies their engagement. Whenever students can interact with content in ways that allow them to construct new meaning, they form a deeper connection to the content itself and are able to interact more meaningfully with others (Brokensha & Greyling, 2015; Galikyan & Admiraal, 2019; Jarosewich et al., 2010; Wang & Chen, 2008).

Download a PDF handout of the Framework for Student Engagement and Critical Thinking to use as a resource.

References

Berry, L. A., & Kowal, K. B. (2022). Effect of role-play in online discussions on student engagement and critical thinking. Online Learning, 26(3), 4-21.

Brokensha, S., & Greyling, W. (2015). Dispelling e-myths and pre-empting disappointment: Exploring incongruities between instructors’ intentions and reality in asynchronous online discussions. South African Journal of Higher Education, 29(4), 50–76.

Darabi, A., Arrastia, M. C., Nelson, D. W., Cornille, T., & Liang, X. (2011). Cognitive presence in asynchronous online learning: A comparison of four discussion strategies. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 27, 216–227.

Galikyan, I., & Admiraal, W. (2019). Students’ engagement in asynchronous online discussion: The relationship between cognitive presence, learner prominence, and academic performance. The Internet and Higher Education, 43, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2019.100692

Gao, F., Wang, C. X., & Sun, Y. (2009). A new model of productive online discussion and its implications for research and instruction. Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange, 21(1), 65–78. https://doi.org/10.18785/jetde.0201.05

Jarosewich, T., Vargo, L., Salzman, J., Lenhart, L., Krosnick, L., Vance, K., & Roskos, K. (2010). Say what? The quality of discussion board postings in online professional development. New Horizons in Education, 58(3), 118–132.

Wang, Y.-m., & Chen, V. D.-T. (2008). Essential elements in designing online discussions to promote cognitive presence – A practical experience. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 12(3-4), 157–177.