Customer Reviews

Discussion-Based Online Teaching to Enhance Student Learning: Theory, Practice and Assessment

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dr. Bender offers a well balanced view of online discussion as a teaching tool in asynchronous education. Clear, concise, practical and well documented concepts and applications fill this easily read textbook. The last section of the book provides a wonderful overview of the hot buttons on assessment in the online environment. Regardless of whether you are already implementing online discussion or if you are just considering online discussion as a new tool to add to your arsenal, you will find helpful insight in this book.

I am an instructional designer of online learning and in an effort to implement discussions in the courses I create, I ordered four books on discussion-based online learning. This book was by far the most comprehensive, balanced, and useful book of the four. While reading the book, I was immediately able to implement the strategies outlined in the book, and justify my reasons for implementing groups/discussions to the college instructors teaching the courses I create. I think that this book is valuable to anyone creating and supporting online learning: instructors, professors, instructional designers, trainers, and training managers. I even copied several pages of the book that justify online learning as a whole for my director.

I am getting ready to create some online training courses and bought several books to review and this book was one of the least helpful to me. I might have found it more useful if I was in an institutional environment which appears to be the intended audience. There is a great deal of theory and discussion here, but not a lot of practical information. I also didn't find the writing style very engaging and lost focus many times.

If you are looking for more real, hands-on information, I highly recommend E-Learning by Design by William Horton which I found covered most of the topics discussed here in a more engaging and useful manner.

Well written with several great references. Does try to "defend" online teaching a little more than I would like, but it's still a nice resource and it covers several necessary points.

I got the Bender book for a graduate class. It is a bit dated but has good information I can use today.

Dr. Bender provides well-documented discussion supported by personal experience. This text is the only one I have found that includes theory, practice, and assessment. We are using it for our introductory E-Teaching course.

One of the best, most useful, easy to read books on discussion based online teaching.

I felt that this book gave concise and clear meanings and was quite a good read. I particularly like the innovative online teaching techniques and the aspects of online communications.

This book is really helpful with the on-line course I am currently taking. It points out the pros and cons of on-line learning and teaching, and gives information on on-line etiquette. Very helpful.

This was a required reading for an online course I needed in order to teach onlne courses. The buzz-word in the course and in the book is "asynchronous collaboration" which translated means "group work when the group is never in the same place at the same time." A lot of educationists are vested in distance learning; they want to prove it is at least as good as, if not better, than classroom teaching. This book certainly falls into this mold. Every time the author sites a person or study that is critical of distance learning, he refutes it by citing his own opinion.