APU Careers & Learning Online Learning Original

The ‘Silo Mentality’ in the Online Classroom (Part II)

By James J. Barney
Professor of Legal Studies, School of Security and Global Studies, American Public University

This is the second article of a two-part series on improving online class instruction.

In Part I, I argued that online classes often suffer from the same problems that plague business organizations. Like any organization, an improperly designed and delivered online course can cause problems, including the “silo mentality.”

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Some online instructors and administrators have called for recreating the lecture-based, brick-and-mortar experience in the online environment through use of the lecture method as a substitute for online discussion boards. While live and recorded lectures can supplement and enrich an online course, recent scholarship has exposed several weaknesses of the lecture-based classroom.

Some Student Populations Do Not Benefit from a Lecture-Based Approach

For example, a recent study into teaching and learning found that specific segments of the student body population, including non-traditional, minority, and first-generation students, do not benefit from a lecture-based approach. Based on this scholarship into the defects of the lecture-centric method, it makes little sense to recreate the inequalities and inefficiencies of the live classroom in the online class.

But the elimination of online discussion boards also makes little sense. That said, innovation is necessary to address some of the well-founded criticism of the format and delivery of online discussion boards, which have not changed significantly for almost two decades.

Innovation in Discussion Boards Can Take Different Forms in the Online Classroom

Innovation in online discussion boards can take different forms. For example, consider an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education by Jay Howard, a professor of sociology and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Butler University.

In “How to Hold a Better Class Discussion,” Howard provides some excellent tips on how to improve in-person discussions that are transferable to online classes. Howard describes how instructors could use debates, role-playing, and a host of other methods to spark more robust participation in the classroom. His recommendations are in line with those of other educators who have advocated for various forms of experiential teaching and learning methods, including interactive games or role-playing in online discussion boards.

Some online instructors advocate the use of high-tech games in the online classroom. For example, American Public University’s Department of Emergency and Disaster Management has successfully experimented with interactive games.

These games ask students to act as decision-makers in a fictitious city as they confront emergencies that professionals might face. Interactive role-playing games provide students with valuable experience and represent the future of online education as online and in-person education will increasingly blend in future years.

Experiential Methods Embedded in Online Classroom Discussion Boards Enrich the Student Experience

While high-tech games embedded in the online discussion boards are useful tools to enrich the student experience, some online instructors must deal with limited budgets and access to technology. Fortunately, online instructors can utilize various low-tech methods that have long been used in actual classrooms. They would act as a temporary bridge from the dated discussion boards to the more tech-based, interactive boards of the future, hinted at by trends in gamification.

Educators who subscribe to the “teaching and learning school of education” want to incorporate various experiential methods into the classroom as either a supplement or a substitute for the lecture-based model of education. These methods focus on student “learning by doing,” and many of the ideas of the teaching and learning school of education can be utilized in the online classroom.

For example, some online instructors can use case studies, structured debates, low-tech role-playing or practical skill training to enhance online discussion boards. Each of these methods, while not ground-breaking, builds upon the insights of educators from the teaching and learning school of education. They shift the focus in the class from information dispersal via the lecture-based method to tasks that ask students to actively apply information via task-based assignments.

Recently in a revision of APU’s Homeland Security Law, LSTD516, I eliminated all tests and long writing assignments. Instead, I experimented with several low-tech discussion board innovations, including a modified Harvard Business School case method, structured debates and role-playing. These methods are only a few of the low-tech experiential methods that online instructors can employ to enhance the student experience. These methods are adaptable to online classes in a host of courses, including political science, history, business and English.

I recently asked students in my Homeland Security Law course to examine a number of situations loosely based on news stories over the past two years. Then students were assigned to play one of four assigned roles: governmental decision maker, concerned citizen, member of a public interest group or law professor. Role-playing often forces students to consider the perspectives of people with differing views.

This exercise introduced students to the concept of perspectivism, illustrating why there usually is no single “correct” answer to complex legal and public policy problems. In other weeks, students engaged in structured debates where they learned how to craft and evaluate legal arguments on three timely legal and public policy issues. These low-tech online discussion board innovations sought not only to increase participation, but also to promote more “rich” discussions of complex legal and policy matters.

Online Discussion Boards Can Also Assist in the Paper-Writing Process

Online discussion boards can also assist in the paper-writing process in the online classroom. For example, in the revised Homeland Security Law class, students were asked to write a short paper using the scaffolding method. Rather than writing a long research paper, students had the choice of writing either a short case note on a recent Supreme Court case, a position paper or a research paper on a narrow legal topic.

In the scaffolding method, students break their paper-writing process into steps. In the Homeland Security Law course, students posted in the discussion boards each step of the scaffolding paper over five weeks – a topic, list of tentative sources, an outline, first draft and final draft. I asked them to read and comment on their peers’ submissions. I then provided feedback on each student’s submission in the discussion boards.

Employing the scaffolding writing method in the discussion boards not only gave students robust input at the various stages of the writing process, but the process provided the students with feedback on my expectations in a collective manner. This process improved the quality of the final papers and had the additional benefit of deterring plagiarism.

Discussion Board Innovation Increases Online Classroom Student-to-Student and Instructor-to-Student Interaction

Evaluating whether a course revision is a success often depends on the criteria used to assess the revised course. In revising the Homeland Security Law course, I intended to create a learning environment that gave students the opportunity to engage in rich student-to-student and instructor-to-student feedback and interaction. Additionally, I sought to create a course that required students to participate on a nearly daily basis by posting or by reviewing my comments or those of their peers.

From an anecdotal review of both the quality and quantity of the student posts as well as a detailed analysis of over one year of student evaluations and student activity, the revised course achieved the goals that I set for it. Most important, the class compelled all students to engage on a regular basis, which resulted in very few class withdrawals after the first week.

While I judged my revisions to the Homeland Security Law class as success, the methods employed require a highly engaged instructor who is willing to participate in the online classroom discussion boards on a nearly daily basis. Thus, these methods admittedly require additional work from the instructor. Moreover, an instructor who embraces experimental methods like that discussed above must be ready and willing to field student questions as well as the occasional complaint from a student who might view the discussion board-centric approach as requiring more or different work.

Short-Term Factors Should Not Deter Instructors from Experimenting in Innovative Discussion Boards

Short-term factors, such as the occasional student complaint or increased workload, should not deter instructors from experimenting in creating innovative discussion boards based on experiential teaching and learning methods. The pedagogical benefits of the discussion board-centric classroom, including breaking down the “silo mentality,” in the long term outweigh any short-term downsides and criticisms of the approach.

Online instructors need to create learning environments that provide rich student-to-student and instructor-to-student interaction in the online classroom. While increasingly maligned, online discussion boards remain a valuable instructional platform for innovative online instructors. Innovative online discussion boards, whether high-tech or low-tech, provide instructors with the means to create learning environments that go a long way to breaking down the real or perceived “silo mentality” increasingly present in some courses.

Thus, despite the criticisms of online educators who often dread reading, commenting, and grading hundreds of student discussion board posts every week, online discussion boards in some form or another are likely to remain a staple in nearly all online courses for the foreseeable future.

This is a good thing. Discussion boards that are relevant, practical and innovative remain one of the most effective tools in an online instructor’s toolbox. They build rich student-to-student and instructor-to-student interaction – all attributes essential to a healthy online learning environment.

About the Author

James Barney is a Professor of Legal Studies in the School of Security and Global Studies. In addition to possessing a J.D., James possesses several master’s degrees, including one in American foreign policy. He is currently completing his Ph.D. in History. James serves as one of the faculty advisors of the Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity as well as the Model United Nations Club and is the pre-law advisor at APU.

James Barney 3

Dr. James Barney is a Professor of Legal Studies at the School of Security and Global Studies. Dr. Barney has been the recipient of several awards. He teaches undergraduate and graduate law and history courses. In addition to having earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of Memphis, Dr. Barney has several master's degrees, including one in U.S. foreign policy and a J.D. from New York Law School. Dr. Barney serves as one of the faculty advisors of the Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity and the Model United Nations Club, and he is the pre-law advisor at the University. He is currently writing a book on the politics of New York City during the administration of David Dinkins, New York City's first African American mayor, 1989-1993.

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