Enhancing the Quality of Hybrid and Online Courses by Enforcing and Motivating Techniques and Tools for Maximum Engagement in Discussions

This study represents a continuous improvement of skills gathered over nearly two decades of teaching online and hybrid courses at Old Westbury and Empire State College. In an online and hybrid environment, the discussion forum has played a vital role in fostering engagement and participation, in comparison to face-to-face courses. Learners are assigned to actively participate in the discussions, while the instructor strives to bridge the gap of face-to-face classroom interactions. Early feedback is one of the techniques of social presence that instructors use to ensure the class activities in the discussions are maximized and direction of discussions are in order. This technique has its own challenges, as learners interact with the instructor responding to the feedback rather than their own classmates. On the other side of early feedback is a common technique with feedback at the end of module courses. A drawback will be that a topic may propagate in the wrong direction. A balance technique for the discussion would be for the instructor to monitor the discussions and respond to the post without giving feedback or right or wrong but stressing what has been presented and even motivating the learners to elaborate when necessary or if they can expand the topic. To motivate the learners in the discussions. Assign a high score like 20% to 35% of the final grade to the discussions with its two-week duration along its module. The evaluation of discussions will be done at the end of the module both considering quality and quantity. It is possible to incorporate a strategy to enhance discussions as a central part of online and hybrid courses where the course activities are directed and prioritized. To ensure the quality several enforcing and motivational techniques are introduced in conjunction with the existing tools of Learning Management Systems. A technique of indirect feedback encouraging learners to post more and build toward quality value. The motivation scheme used at discussions makes everyone participate and contribute. A smart medium like camera, recording voice makes it easy to contribute and have fun. The study illustrates the use of enforcing and applying techniques that can total quality of discussions resulting in a total quality of the course, the use of instructional tools, would be ideal in course performance. The study concludes some of the differences in discussion of online and hybrid courses.