My First Experience with Discussion Boards

Because today's reading was about design of classrooms and courses, I really wanted to take some time to talk about how my perceptions of technology in the classroom has changed since the beginning of the semester. After reading about all of the different designs for computer labs and classrooms, I am pretty sure that I have the best possible scenario in my laptop classroom. Not only can students move around freely with their computers, but the laptops can also disappear as easily as they are utilized. I have never been in a composition classroom that was in a computer lab before. But I think laptop classes eliminate some of the limitations of designed computer labs.

 On Monday I asked my students to develop and then post their theses and proposed audience for the next essay on blackboard. Then my students replied to the 2 students theses below theirs. I also replied to every student's thesis. This took the whole class period because students took a lot of time to develop their theses. Then they each when back and edited their post/thesis. 

The next class, we put the laptops away and formed a circle in the middle of the classroom using desks. Before moving to a discussion about parts of an argumentative essay, we discussed how the last class went and what they liked about the discussion board. Turns out, they loved it! This was the most energized and positive I had seen my class. Not only did they like the online interaction, they felt they all received really useful feedback from both their peers and myself. 

The reason I included this little anecdote, is to illustrate how beneficial laptop classrooms are. Not only do the students/instructors have the same benefits of a computer lab, they also have the work space of a traditional classroom. One day we can be in a computer lab setting, and the next we can sit around a circle and have a discussion just like in a traditional classrooms. I really think I will have a hard time going back to a traditional classroom after this experience.