The most typical way of creating student-student interaction in eLearning is to use discussions.

Discussions can serve multiple purposes:

• ice breaker (e.g., introduce yourself)
• a place to make friends with the learning community (e.g., socialize/collaborate)
• a place to ask questions and get answers (e.g., Q&A)
• student-content and student-student interaction (e.g., topical discussion, case studies, etc.)
• reflection (e.g., weekly learning journal)
• and much more.

Like any other graded learning activity, scoring discussions can be made transparent through the use of a rubric. Discussion rubrics usually look about 75% at quality and 25% at quantity. Let me know if you’d like a sample discussion rubric.

The web page captured in the frame below is a helpful starting place for considering ways to incorporate discussions in your eLearning course. Use the frame’s scroll bar to move through the George Washington University web page.