You can then bring closure to the discussion through an all-class discussion of these findings. Expert Guests Invite a guest to join the course online for a limited time. To focus the discussion, you or the guest can post some introductory notes and questions to the list or include them in the printed course materials. Students post questions to the list and the guest responds to the questions during a specified period of time. Collaborative Projects Assign students learning partners to complete a task and present it to the class on the list.
Students can communicate with each other by e-mail as they work on the task.
Depending on the nature of the activity, you may want to participate in their deliberations as they work on the task. In this case, you and the students will each need to set up a distribution list of e-mail addresses. Instructions on creating a distribution list should be provided in the printed course materials and on the list. Structured Group Activities Organize students into groups of three or four to work collaboratively on a task such as a research project or report. You can assist the group in defining tasks, strategies for decision-making, roles, distribution of tasks and timelines.