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Facilitating Discussion Forums

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Facilitating Discussion Forums

Creator(s)

Organisation(s)

Dublin City University, OpenTeach

Discipline(s)

Teaching & Learning

Topic(s)

Accessibility & Inclusion, Digital Learning, Student Success, Teaching and Learning Practice

License

CC BY-NC

Media Format

PDF

Date Submitted

Submitted by

National Forum

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Description

This resource presents several best practice tips to ensure successful discussion forums.

Benefit of this resource and how to make the best use of it

Discussion forums are used in online courses to encourage student discourse that may have been provided in the classroom in face to face courses. It can be challenging to meaningfully engage students in online forums, but careful design and management of the forums will result in success. Key to success is ensuring that the discussion forums are meaningful and that students understand, and agree with, the benefits of participation.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)

This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC license, permitting sharing and adaptation for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
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Dublin City University, and OpenTeach (2021). Facilitating discussion forums. National Resource Hub (Ireland). Retrieved from: https://hub.teachingandlearning.ie/resource/facilitating-discussion-forums/ License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC).

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Related OER

This resource captures key insights from a full-day workshop held on 8 May 2025, hosted by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and led by internationally recognised expert Dr Alison Cook-Sather. The event focused on the transformative potential of authentic student-staff partnerships as a strategic approach to advancing student engagement, success, and institutional effectiveness.

Attended by academic staff, institutional leaders, student success professionals, and sector partners from across Ireland, the workshop featured a combination of keynote presentations, lightning talks, and interactive sessions. Through real-world examples and hands-on activities, participants explored how to build meaningful, inclusive, and sustainable collaboration between students and staff.

For the full event schedule and a complete list of lightning talk contributors to this slide deck, visit the workshop schedule.

Embracing Pedagogical Partnership: What Kind of Mindset, Courage, and Practices Are Necessary?

CC BY-NC-SA

This survey was adapted from a North American Faculty OER Survey Toolkit for use in the Irish Higher Education context. It was used across the DOERs project partner sites to audit staff Open Educational Resources and Open Educational Practices awareness and practices. We encourage other institutions to adapt this tool to meet their needs.

The DOERs Project Open Educational Resources (OER) Institutional Survey

CC BY

Two modules are available on this page one for educators and one for mentors to learn how to engage in mentoring sessions with students. The page also has access to the Community Mentoring Handbook (for mentors), Mentee Toolkit (for second-level students taking part in sessions) and the Adult Ed Handbook(for adult learners taking part in sessions).

Community Mentoring Resources

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URL: https://openteach.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Take-Away-Unit-3_-Discussion-Forums.pdf