January 19, 2011 Enhancing Learning Through Vibrant Online
Discussions The discussion board is the heart and soul of online
learning. As such, the life and livelihood of online teaching
and learning flows through threaded, asynchronous conversations
inspired by thought-provoking questions. To maximize the
potential of online discussions, these conversations need to be
relevant and inspiring dialogs that empower and enlighten online
learning. The keystone of online discussions, which result in
meaningful learning for the student, is vibrant discussion.
Vibrant discussions which are highly collaborative in nature
inspire the construction of meaningful knowledge by building and
expanding learning (Schellens & Valcke, 2005). Vibrant
discussions need to optimize the energy and innovation of human
thought and potential. In essence, energetic and innovative
discussions are developed through the scaffolding of novel
thinking, original writing, and pertinent theory to construct
and support new and higher level critica