"WHAT IS NOT TO DISCUSS?" – BEST PRACTICES FOR USING DISCUSSIONS IN ONLINE PEDAGOGY

Online group discussions are an integral part of ensuring and assessing group work in online classes. The authors with a combined experience of 12 years teaching online courses discuss the pedagogy of using discussions in such classes. While online discussions can also be an excellent ancillary activity for face to face classes, they can also pose significant challenges. The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the best practices in leveraging the value of online discussions. Several practical considerations and potentially helpful strategies in online discussions are presented. The paper also identifies questions that merit further study.