Prepare: Take a few minutes to think about the material that we've covered in this course so far.

Reflect: Reflect on what you found interesting, surprising, or confusing in this past week. Did anything that you learned cause you to understand an issue and event differently? Have you discovered any habits or tips that help you to complete your course work more effectively or efficiently?

Consult The Anatomy of a Discussion Board as well as Critical Thinking: A Guide to Skillful Reasoning as you formulate your response.

Write:

This discussion forum is an opportunity for you to explore topics that interest you, share critical insights and questions that you are working with, share your struggles and triumphs, and discuss difficulties that may have arisen this week, hopefully finding solutions.

Your initial post should describe your experiences in the course this past week, prompting further discussion. You should address at least two of the following questions:

What struck you in particular as you explored the course materials this week?

What insights have you had?

What have you been struggling with?

What questions have come up for you at this point?

Do you have any helpful tips that you've picked up in this course or in a past course?

Do you have questions about the assignment that your classmates might be able to help with? (If you have a question for the instructor, be sure to contact your instructor through email or in the Ask Your Instructor Forum).

You are required to post at least 100 total words in this forum this week. You can post one time or ten times, the only requirements are that you post at least 100 words total and that you engage in conversation related to course content.

Ask questions, answer questions, provide extra resources you found that are interesting, or engage in a debate about something you learned this week. The only requirement is that your comments have to relate to the course content.

Provide a full explanation of the issues that you discuss in your posts. For example, if you write that you had difficulty finding sources for your Final Project, explain where in the process of finding sources you had difficulty. Was it choosing a database to search? Thinking of search terms?

Did your search return too many sources that were not relevant to your topic? Did your search return too few results?

Respond to Peers:

Similarly, when responding to your classmates, be sure to elaborate. For example, if you write that you also found a specific topic interesting, explain what about that topic you found interesting and why. Is it the same aspects of the topic that your classmate found interesting?

Were you unaware that events associated with the topic took place? Did the information that you learned change your understanding of those events?

If you have a question for your instructor, you should contact your instructor through email or in the Ask Your Instructor board. This Open Forum is a place for you to collaborate and connect with your classmates as well as support one another. Your instructor will monitor this board and may post, but he/she is not expected to answer all questions.

If you notice a classmate is struggling with something that you can help with, use your responses as a way to support them. Helping out your classmates will not only benefit them, but it will also help to solidify your own knowledge.

All of your participation in this forum is due before Day 7 of the week. Students who post early in the week, using this forum to engage their classmates on a regular basis, tend to do well and get more out of the course.