Creating a threaded discussion

Would you like Yahoo to host your discussion group (it's free)? Try this:

1. Go to http://www.yahoo.com.
2. Click on Education
3. Click on Start or Join a Club
4. Click on K-12
5. Click on Create A Club
6. Complete the Yahoo forms that set you up with an ID and password. Be sure to write these down and keep them in a place you will remember!
7. Receive the instructions at your email address and follow them (they're very easy). Here, you can make your thread open to members you invite (your students, parents, other teachers) or open to anyone interested in your topic

How about using a web page development application you might already own? Microsoft Front Page has a built in capacity to generate a threaded discussion. If you have FrontPage, try this:

1. Run FrontPage
2. Choose File, New, Web
3. Click on Discussion Web Wizard
4. Click OK. Follow the wizard's instructions.
5. The Wizard allows you to define your discussion, determine the users, add optional features, and choose a style of presentation.

Effective Student Use

Those students who have Internet access at home or at a library can be assigned, as part of their homework, the task of checking and contributing to the class's discussion area. Consider it the same as classroom participation. If students are going to access an online discussion that has not been generated by their teacher, care must be taken. As with all student uses of technology, particularly Internet applications, it is necessary for teachers to monitor and assess a discussion group before assigning or suggesting it for student use.

Can you think of ways you might use a discussion thread in your curriculum?

It's a great way for students and teachers to ask and respond to questions, or for students working on a project to share ideas, or to work in virtual groups. For example, my son was recently working on a project having to do with the Tinker vs. Des Moines School Board Supreme Court Case. When he had trouble interpreting the findings of the case, he entered the threaded discussion group with his classmates who were able to help him and give him links to various sites on the WWW that offered explanations in easier to understand format. How about ways for you to post homework, field parents' questions, or talk about upcoming events or studies?

Any questions? Please email us!.

Back to the November, 2001 Sun Associates News

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