Tips for effective online discussions

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

LEADERS:

Announce the online discussion area during your face-to-face meeting to encourage participation and implicitly endorse it as an ongoing piece of the work of the PLC.
After the discussion area is in use, be sure to bring up the online discussions in the face-to-face meetings. This validates the time and effort expelled by PLC members away from the physical meetings. It also offers members who respond best in person to offer their additional thoughts and comments.
PLC leaders should be active participants. This models appropriate use, as well as avoiding a situation in which the discussion becomes an "underground" where dissenting opinion is dispatched to fester and brood.
New posts should almost exclusively be questions. Typically, no one will respond to a lecture or statement of fact. If you want to share your opinion, you may do so, but end by asking for people to share their opinion.
- In our meeting this week we discussed eggs. I think it is safe to say that chicken eggs are the only appropriate eggs to be eating.
  
  Do you agree with that? What experiences do you have eating non-chicken eggs?
Recognize that not everyone in a community participates by sharing their opinion. Some digest the opinions of others, and are active listeners, but choose not to share their thoughts. That's OK!

PARTICIPANTS:

Be sure to observe the same professional courtesy online that you would extend in person. If you disagree with someone, do so politely. An online discussion should be like reading a transcript of a dinner conversation.
Have a basic understanding of Netiquette.
Netiquette is a set of informal rules that govern online behavior,
particularly in discussion areas where body language is unable to be
delivered.
Use facts or references to text or data whenever possible.
Keep your replies on topic as much as possible. If you have a new thought or avenue for the discussion, make a new post and ask people to reply to that instead.
You get what you give. When you take the time to give thoughtful responses, others will follow suit.
You do not have to share an opinion on every topic that is posted. Speak up when you are comfortable, not a moment before.
Emotion is sometimes difficult to convey through text. If you feel there is any possibility that people will not "hear" the emotion you are hoping to deliver, let an emoticon eliminate the ambiguousness.

An emoticon is a series of characters that represent facial features you would be using when you say a piece of text.

I agree - kids should skip school. real learning only happens on the streets. ;)

In this case the characters ;) imply a "wink", meaning that you were only kidding when you said it. This may seem silly, but imagine reading it without that emoticon. It would be perceived very differently.

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