Discussion Forum Facilitation
At the Southern Conference of Language Teachers (SCOLT) conference in March 2012, there were many presentations on 21st Century Skills and their incorporation into the World Languages classroom (below). As an online instructor I have the opportunity and the duty to lead this initiative. One of my efforts is to develop excellence in facilitating asynchronous, online discussions.

ACTFL World Language 21st century skills map

View more presentations from Toni Theisen

The purpose of the discussion forum is to foster interaction amongst students, teachers, and the course material. "Regarding social interaction, it is my assumption that a goal of distance teaching is to create an environment that both fosters trust among the learner and the instructor and also seeks to promote a
cooperative and collaborative environment, allowing students to learn from course materials, the instructor, and each other." (Berge, 1995, http://faculty-web.at.northwestern.edu/at/nielsen/demo%20annotations.pdf) In my mind, the goals of the discussion forums are to:

• Personalize and build community of practice amongst the students, teachers, and material;
• Practice writing and grammar in both French and English;
• Promote higher order thinking skills such as evaluating, explaining, and applying. (See Bloom's Taxonomy, http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html); and
• To develop 21st Century Skills, specifically "communication and collaboration" and "research and information fluency". (ISTE, 2011).

In the past, I have given students full credit for simply making the minimum number of posts to the discussion forums. I did not take the quality of the posts into account when grading. However, I believe this is a wasted opportunity and have begun to aggressively facilitate the discussion forums in my classes. I use the following strategies:

• Questioning...For example, in response to a post about a family tradition, I responded, "Why do you decorate? How do you decorate? Please explain and support with details."
• Promoting research...As illustration, I posted the following, "Please conduct some Internet research into "Secret Santa" in France. Do they practice this tradition in modern France? Is it the same as your family? Be sure to cite your sources."
• Assessment and feedback...For example, "Your posts do not illustrate that you read and understood the website. Please cite specific examples and support your answers. You may answer my questions in the forum for full credit."

It takes more time and effort. It may require that I grade more than four posts. Student may need to return to the forum more than once. However, all of this is well worth providing solid context for anchored student learning and more challenging intellectual growth.
This is a great video that summarizes the potential of the asynchronous discussion: