Discussion Questions

welcome

You have, no doubt, noticed that much of your work in this class involves reading and discussing those readings. Discussion questions make up a sizeable portion of your grade, so you really want to do well on them; it can make the difference between a low grade, a passable grade, an excellent grade in the class.

The purpose of this page is to give you both a quick overview of how the discussions work and also the information you need to get as high a score as possible for each discussion.

how it all works

The control center of the class is the Class Schedule (be sure to bookmark it; I say this a lot here on our site because it is a page you will be looking at most days. There are links for just about everything on our Class Schedule (you click on a link to get to a lecture, to get to the paper topics, and to get to the discussion questions).

Once you've done the reading for that week, check out the discussion question (if there is one) well before the due date). I recommend composing your Postings in Word because they are easier to edit and save. You can then Copy and Paste the text into the Discussion Board (NOTE: Etudes is weird-ish; you hae to Copy by using CTRL+C keys, and you Paste by using CTRL+V (yes, "V") keys.

Discussions take place on a PhP message board on Etudes. Etudes is a password-protected course management system (CMS). I'm not a huge fan of these business-model CMSs, but there is a layer of security and privacy there, and since the school has site licenses for Etudes, I don't see any reason not to use their message board, announcements, and gradebook features.

NOTE: I am not the Etudes administrator, nor do I serve at tech support to Etudes. Logons, passwords, general Etudes instructions are all made available to you once the semester begins. Since we are using only minimal tools, you won't need elaborate tutorials. Once you get on the Etudes page, you'll see some tabs. If you click on the DISCUSSION tab, you'll be on the message board. There are general instructions ON the message board explaining how the PhP message board works and what is expected of your discussions.

Most weeks I will put up a new DISCUSSION thread. You'll click on Discussion 1, Discussion 2--whatever is appropriate for that week--and you will start a NEW THREAD to answer the discussion question for that week. Be sure you start a new thread for your posting; otherwise, it will not count as your week's posting. Responses are handled by reading other items on the board and clicking the REPLY button. Remember that you need to put up a posting no later than midnight of the due dates listed on the class SCHEDULE page; you have a couple of days to continue putting up replies.

Tip: I recommend you look at the board every day to see what's new. I typically visit the boards every day to read what's new; I also comment on several (not all) of the items as they appear.

getting maximum points

First, READ THE TIPS IN THE SIDEBAR (the pink-ish box on the left here).

1/2 of your discussion points are based on the answer you post on the message board. The other 1/2 of the points are based on actual discussion (the responses you have to OTHER students' postings and responses).

So if you post a great answer but fail to respond to anyone else, you'll get 10/20. You need to put up a minimum of two substantive responses for each discussion to try to get full points. Feel free to put up more responses; it really is what keeps the class moving along. I will, though, only score your top two responses.

A weak posting and/or weak responses will get partial points. Editing and proofreading and clarity do count, which is another reason I recommend you compose your postings and responses in Word (or whichever word processing program you use), then save and edit (and save again). Then you can copy/paste your work onto the message board (REMINDER: to paste onto the board, you open the New Topic box or Post Response box, position your cursor, then use CTRL-V to paste).

To get a full 20/20, your initial answer to the discussion question must be clear and thoughtful and well developed, about 300+ wirds, though some will be longer, with examples from the texts (which you quote and document); you are trying to show that you did the reading, understood the reading, can articulate your ideas (not feelings) about the reading, and can find supporting examples from the reading. When appropriate, ALSO (not instead of) provide real-world examples from personal experience and/or from outside sources to back up your observations. It is always a great idea to provide those sources (include links, insert images, etc.). Your responses need to be thoughtful; the responses (about 200+ words each) extend the discussion; they give additional examples or present a different point of view backed up by examples or introduce a relevant tangent to the discussion. Think of responses as informed, intellegent conversation at a party. If someone has said something throught-provoking, and all you can come up with is "Yeah!" or "I agree" or "Whoa!" then that conversation is going to die.

Consider these as SHORT ESSAYS you are writing; they need to have a point and support; a typical posting should be about 300 words OR MORE. A substantive response should be about 200 words OR MORE. Both need loads of detailed, concrete examples from the readings, outside sources, and/or exactly-described experiences.

Yes I do know that this involves quite a lot of writing and thinking, especially since you need to contribute new ideas and examples with each one. However, you could earn a "C" with a solid posting and just one substantial response. Consider the second and third responses as your putting in extra time and thought if you are trying for a "B" or an "A" for the discussion part of the class. This is, after all, the only way I have of evaluating just what you are taking away from the assigned readings.

law of diminishing returns

Simply put, if you copy what someone else has on the board (or if you copy your same responses again and again), you will not earn many (if any) points. Copying someone else does not show your thinking, and even slightly-reworded posts/responses are not going to actually extend the conversation. If something has been said two times, three times, twenty times on the board, it may just as well be "Blah, blah, blah" after the fourth or fifth time. The class gets nothing new form it.

To avoid this, look at new angles (remember you are reading closely); quote/document new examples from the reading; compare some idea to another work (book, movie, television show) or issue or possibly even a personal example; add some outside links or embed relevant media when appropriate; go off on related tangents. This is a discussion, like the things people have at get togethers; keep it moving and expanding so that others in the class can build on your new contributions.

Note: this is real incentive to get postings/responses up early in the week. If you wait until just before they are due, it will likely be hard to think of new things to add.

the "p" word is still in play

As I noted above, feel free to provide links to relevant outside sources, and also feel free to quote/document/give Works Cited information for any material you take from an outside source (maybe a literary reference book on poetry, for example), but most of the discussion must be you--your ideas, your thinking, your analysis. If you skip over to Snopes or Ask or Wikipedia or Spark Notes or whatever and copy/paste and pretend it is yours, you are plagiarizing. If you copy/paste most of your post/response and document it, well, that is not you. Expect a zero.

some samples to give you some ideas of what will earn you lots of points
note: this is not a topic you will be discussing

DQ0 - Sample of an excellent posting
(the following posting would earn a full 10/10 points)
Remember that postings are worth 10 points; the other 10 points for each discussion are based on your three OR MORE responses:

When I first read Stephen King's claim that "we are all crazy" (93), I was angry. He can speak for himself, but how dare he say that I'm crazy. He punctuated this section with talk about alligators and dead baby jokes, and his argument seemed weaker and weaker. And in a time when terrorism is at the front of the media in the U.S., his stating that there "lurks inside us all an urge to hurl a bomb" (93) seemed highly inappropriate. It was the comparison between humans and hungry alligators kept quiet with food, though, that finally made sense. Many things make me angry. On the way home from work yesterday I was cut off by an Audi on the 110 freeway, and I was furious; the fool nearly caused me to swerve and get into an accident. Driving the freeways in Los Angeles is frustrating enough without people making it more dangerous still. I wanted to flip him off, to blow him up ("hurl a bomb"), but I'm civilized. Thank goodness we don't all carry weapons in our cars and just blast away when someone frustrates us; instead, we (well, I, at least) suppress the urge, push it down. But when enough frustrating things happen in a day that I feel like I just want to explode, I don't. I don't yell at the kids (though some people do) or lash out and get into fights (though some do). Instead, I turn on ESPN and watch football or basketball and YELL AT THE SCREEN! Of course the screen can't hear me, but I get out some aggression safely, without hurting anyone, without hurling the bomb. This is my form of release, what the ancient Greeks called catharsis; King is saying that for some, watching the monster tear down the city offers catharsis for some the way sports does for me.

NOTE: not only is this very specific, but it also offers concrete examples from the reading (documented and quoted) and from the student's personal experiences; it demonstrates the student really thought about the reading and demonstrated what the author was getting at; it is also clear and direct and carefully edited, and it invites further comment/examples from other students. It is 312 words long, so you would not want anything much shorter.

DQ0 - Sample of a weak posting
(the following posting would earn no points):

I agree with Stephen King. I love hore movies. U can't go to a movie theater ever without finding several hore movies and they are really good. Everyone loves 2 C a great explosion or a monster get his.

NOTE: this is far too short (39 words) and has some editing errors (do not use texting/chat abbreviations, for example). It also does not demonstrate the student even read the article. There are no direct references (documented and quoted) from the article), and it is filled with overgeneralizations and unsupported personal opinions. "I agree" and "I love" and "really good" and "great"-these are all just opinion statements.

 

DQ0 - Sample of an excellent response
(this response would earn full points):

Although I am not a huge fan of horror movies, I have seen a few that fit this article. In George Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD the zombies in the shopping mall are made up of different types of people that we come in contact with, and the ability to chop off the head of a telemarketer or blast away with a shotgun an inefficient clerk is something people may not want to admit, but it's something that I've felt after being put on hold by Time Warner Cable customer support for half an hour. Thankfully, most people suppress the urge to take a car and smash into someone who's just cut them off, but we can sit safely in the audience watching DEATH RACE 2000 and watch it happen FOR us with actors and props and sets. This same safety valve, what King calls "feeding the alligators" (94), probably accounts for many popular video games such as GEARS OF WAR for the X-Box 360. Blasting away aliens with an array of massively-powerful weapons allows some players to burn off stress and aggression vicariously. Yes, it does suggest that humans have never completely been able to rise above their primative, animal feelings, but it also shows that some humans are creative enough to invent safe alternatives to actual, deadly road rage.

NOTE: this response is fully developed, clearly written, supported with specific examples both from the reading and from outside the reading. It also opens the discussion by introducing a related topic (violence in video games), and it is not weakened by simple personal opinions; it is an attempt to understand the article the class read. This is 221 words; it has a lot of detail, and it opens the discussion up to lots of other related examples.

DQ0 - Sample of a weak response
(this response will earn no points):

Yeah, I agree with you. This is one of the best things I've read on the board. I too feel that horror movies are a kind of release valve.

NOTE: this response is very short (29 words just dashed off) and offers nothing new; it does not refer to the reading; it does not incorporate any specific examples; it uses "I agree" and "I feel" statements (neither is permitted). Do feel free to be supportive (that's a good thing), but always back it up with further examples and ideas.

a couple more important notes

Late postings receive no points; I do, however, give you a couple of days to keep responding to new items on the board, so even if you miss your posting, you can keep putting up your two or more responses and try to get at least 10/20 for that discussion. Postings are typically due on Thursdays before midnight (if Thursday does not work well with your schedule, consider that you have a week before this to get up your postings; do not wait until the last moment), and you have until just before noon Sundays (unless it says otherwise on the Class Schedule page) to keep putting up responses.

There is one more reason why it is a helpful practice getting your posts and responses up early: if you wait until the last moment, other students cannot read and discuss your items; the board closes before others can look at them. You want poeple to give you a lot to respond to, right? Well, they want to have a lot to respond to as well. So it's a nice thing to do (as well as a safe/prudent thing to do).

NOTE: all due dates are listed on the course Schedule page.