Practical approach
Discussion forums have ways to increase engagement, but they should be used correctly. Given the impact of COVID-19 and classrooms having to switch to mixed delivery mode, how can we use discussion forums to increase engagement and track learner progress?
Background
Over the last decade, the adult education and training industry has changed. Adult and above education is designed for high school graduate students. However, the Adults and Further Education section also focuses on second-chance learners.
The New Zealand Ministry of Education states that the purpose of the industry is “mainstream secondary education.” [that] We can provide basic skills for adults or “second chance” education. Adult students can have the opportunity to qualify for a National Education Achievement Certificate (NCEA) that they did not achieve when they first attended secondary school as a full-time student. Adults are categorized by the Commission on Higher Education (TEC) and New Zealand. The qualification body (NZQA) is over 16 years old. This is the statutory age at which students can make their own educational decisions.
In this area, the number of registrants has increased over the last decade in terms of the qualifications offered, such as trade training and apprenticeship. This is an important focus for governments to help rebuild the economy, and this type of training is attractive to students due to the free fee structure. Meanwhile, the Commission on Higher Education, as a government agency, has changed its focus on free study fees that allow students to complete their full qualifications at no financial cost to themselves. Further emphasis is placed on co-training ventures such as trade academic funding, where higher education institutions work with schools to jointly provide unit standards and qualifications in the framework. This has increased employment in the adult education sector. However, due to embedded literary and computational power requirements, this increases the educational burden on staff.
This is an important focus as it enables students to take introductory courses in a variety of disciplines that help them understand the right career direction. In addition, youth guarantee funding is intended for students aged 16 to 22 who do not have a formal high school qualification. There is also an emphasis on embedded literacy and computing power in both the Trade Academy and Youth Guarantee financing. This adds value to the industry as graduates are more ready to work. Some institutions report that they are struggling with the lack of training and the New Zealand Qualifications Department updating the requirements for these standards.
Discussion forum
Over the last two years, COVID-19 has required changes in education, reversing classrooms and moving online with different mixed approaches while students and teachers recover. You can no longer track student engagement simply by logging in and submitting an assignment.
Discussion forums are usually underutilized. As an example, for a 12-week course with a weekly discussion forum, uptake can be as high as 50%. However, you can increase your uptake by an additional 20% by assigning each discussion in the forum a small percentage of the overall course quota of about 1%.
How can I be more active in the forums?
However, not only will we appreciate these discussions in the forums, but we will also discuss tutors who have an active presence in the course. Students want to know that tutors are human and are reviewing and encouraging their work.
It is important to think about how we as tutors can become more active as the learning environment changes. Currently, active activity is not only about checking and monitoring the student’s work, but also about completing the learning with the student. This means that tutors need to be more active as they progress through the course and provide feedback on their contributions to the discussion forums. This means that tutors need to comment on individual posts, but historically this feedback has been provided altogether.
The more tutors attend online courses, the more enthusiastic and at home the students will feel. This allows them not only to develop their own learning, but also to learn from other students. As tutors, we are there to promote their involvement, and courses with a strong facilitator presence have higher involvement in turn.