Research consistently shows that in an online environment, building a sense of community is crucial for keeping students engaged and preventing feelings of isolation (Tayebinik & Puteh, 2012). Icebreaker discussion forums are particularly effective for this purpose because of their ability to set a positive tone for the course and help students connect early on. Let’s explore why icebreakers are so beneficial and how you can implement them in your online course.
Why Icebreaker Discussion Forums?
Icebreakers serve to break down the initial barriers of anonymity in online courses. By starting with a fun and personal discussion, you can create an inviting atmosphere where students feel more connected. Here are some key benefits of using icebreaker forums:
Increase student motivation.
Icebreaker forums allow you to learn about your students’ unique interests, backgrounds, and motivations. This can help you tailor your responses in future discussions to connect course material with their personal experiences. For example, in a political science course, if a student shares that he or she lives in a hotly contested electoral district, you might ask the student about his or her experience throughout an election cycle. This personalized facilitation helps students see the value in the course and feel more motivated.
Build your presence.
Sharing a bit about yourself in the icebreaker forum, whether it’s professional details or fun facts like your favorite food, helps you feel more relatable to students. To increase your teaching presence right at the start of the course, share personal or professional information about yourself that students might not learn during typical instruction. Even sharing small things like the ages of your children or your favorite foods can help show how you are approachable, which makes the online classroom feel more welcoming and interactive.
Create a sense of community.
Icebreaker forums are an ideal way to begin the process of building community among students. If you plan to assign group work or establish study groups later in the course, icebreaker forums can be a great place for students to “meet” and establish commonalities that they can later build on when they work together. In some cases, icebreakers can even lead to networking opportunities, as students discover shared interests or career paths.
Icebreaker Discussion Forum Techniques
Now that we’ve covered the benefits, let’s look at some practical ways to implement icebreakers in your course. You can try a variety of approaches to suit your style and the needs of your students. You should require participation in the discussion forum to ensure that all students have an opportunity to get to know each other—and you. However, you may want to make the point value lower than typical discussion forum responses because you will likely not be holding your students to the same rigorous academic standards.
Posing Questions
One of the simplest methods is to ask students a fun or thought-provoking question. It could be something related to the course, such as why students decided to take the course, what experience they might already have in the field, or what they’re most looking forward to learning and why. Or you can go for something more lighthearted, like asking which superhero power they’d choose or what three items they’d take to a desert island. These types of questions encourage creativity and give students an easy entry point into the course.
Introduction Activity
For a more interactive approach, ask students to introduce themselves through a short presentation. For example, you can ask students to create a presentation containing a list of words that they think describe them and why, or five pictures that they think best represents who they are (University of Wisconsin, n.d.). If your course involves starting a blog or other social media account, you could have students get their feet wet using these programs to create an introduction post about themselves (and then share these to the forum, of course). You could also have students interview one another and then introduce their partner to the class. These activities help students go beyond surface-level introductions and engage with each other on a more meaningful level. (Dai, 2007). You could also assign an introduction scavenger hunt. For example, you could create a list of characteristics or experiences that the entire class must review together to see which student or students matches each category. Or have students review one another’s introduction posts and find things they have in common with one another (“Introductory Activities,” n.d.).
Café-Style Forum
A café-style forum is “a place to get to know peers and perhaps the instructor without worrying about the degree to which each comment relates to the topics of the course” (University of Wisconsin, n.d.). A café forum is meant for students to use beyond the first week of class, whether to talk about off-topic subjects or share study tips. Café forums can build community and help students feel less isolated because they can see where their peers are struggling and help one another throughout the course. It also gives you an opportunity to take the “pulse” of how students are doing in the class and pivot if necessary. This is the sort of interaction that happens organically in a face-to-face classroom, but that you must purposefully cultivate in an online course.
Note that a café-style forum is different than a news forum. News forums are a one-way form of communication from the instructor to the students, such as to make course announcements. If you have any essential course information you need to communicate to students, make sure to use the news forum rather than a café-style forum because students can opt to unsubscribe from e-mail notifications from café forums and might not see all information posted there.
Conclusion
As Donovan (2015) points out, “Online learning communities can be academically and personally transformational when intentionally created, fostered, and sustained by all involved.” It’s the intention that Donovan references that is crucial. If you’re purposeful in building a community of openness and trust, beginning with an inviting icebreaker discussion forum, you can help students feel connected even though you may never see one another’s faces or hear one another’s voices. Show students that you’re human and that you care by participating in the forum and sharing about yourself, and encourage them to share with one another as well by requiring and building participation into the forum activity. The learning community that this activity can foster may just be the key to keeping students engaged, supported, and, ultimately, successful throughout your course.
References
Dai, M. (2007, December). 10 ways to engage students in an online course. In Online classroom: Ideas for effective online instruction. Retrieved from https://www.hartnell.edu/sites/default/files/llark/online_classroom_newsletter.pdf
Donovan, J. (2015, October 8). The importance of building online learning communities [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://blog.online.colostate.edu/blog/online-education/the-importance-of-building-online-learning-communities/
Introductory activities. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/lsn/OnlineFacilitator/introductory/introact.html http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/lsn/OnlineFacilitator/introductory/introact.html
Tayebinik, M., & Puteh, M. (2012). Sense of community: How important is this quality in blended courses. Proceeding of the International Conference on Education and Management Innovation, Singapore. Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1504/1504.00249.pdf
University of Wisconsin. (n.d.). Icebreaker activities. Retrieved from https://ce.uwex.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IceBreaker.pdf
