THE HOW-TO'S OF A THREADED DISCUSSION
Lisa Keys-Mathews
Department of Geography ~ University of North Alabama

To me as an instructor, the most important part of a class is the classroom interaction.  In my traditional courses, I encourage and require a great deal of verbal discussion and interaction.  This is truly the most important learning experience in a traditional classroom situation.  Well, we are not in a traditional classroom, however I still believe that interaction will be a very important part of your learning experience.  To that end, I am requiring several threaded discussions as a part of the graded portion of the class.  Some of the discussions will be conducted with the whole class; some with smaller groups.

A "threaded discussion" is basically a group conversation on-line and asynchronously.   Asynchronously meaning that when you work with a threaded discussion, you are participating at a time that is convenient for you and you are posting information to a central database for others to access.   We do not have to be on-line at the same time, but if we are all the better.  

It works fairly simply. Class members post questions, answer questions, make statements, state opinions, or offer to discuss a particular project that you have going on.  You and the members of your class, as well as I, will respond to their "postings". What's really nice is that you don't have to be doing this at the same time.  

For your class, our first interaction with a threaded discussion is in an introduction of yourself to your classmates and me.  You second discussion is on the meaning and preconceived notions of Geography.  Good Luck!