Discussion forum guidelines
In this MOOC’s discussion forums you can respond to specific questions, raise new questions yourself, reply to comments made by others and so on. You can even, and we strongly encourage you to do so, upvote questions, comments, and replies that were posted by others (to upvote a post, click on the green ‘plus’ button). Anything you post on these forums is accessible to your fellow students and to the staff. Below you will find some guidelines and tips to help you successfully interact within the discussion forums.
The staff will monitor the forums regularly. However, the staff will generally not respond and intervene on the spot in these forums. The forums are mainly intended as a primary way for you to communicate and interact with your fellow students. The main reason why the course staff will monitor the forums is because they will be on the lookout for topics for the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) session at the end of the MOOC. The staff will look for the most interesting discussions, most highly upvoted questions, and most heavily debated topics, which they will use as input for the closing FAQ-session.
Please consider the following when you are interacting on this MOOC’s discussion forums:
- Before posting, scan and read prior threads and posts, so you can post your comment in reply to an already existing (and for your comment relevant) discussion and/or to avoid duplicate posts.
- Be friendly and polite and, in that way, help us to build an encouraging, positive, and non-judgmental online learning community. For example, you can upvote other students’ good posts to provide positive feedback.
- Write concisely and clearly and stay on topic. Be specific and clear, for example in terms of what aspect or component of someone else’s post you are commenting on. Use correct grammar and spelling. Avoid using excessive punctuation (????!!!!!!!) and typing in ALL CAPS. Also, avoid the use of abbreviations and symbols and don’t bold whole sentences or large parts of sentences.
We hope you will actively engage in discussions and that it will help you to get the most out of your MOOC experience!