Questions to Guide Effective Discussion Activity Design 1.

What unit learning goal can be supported by an asynchronous discussion in your online course/training? What are the specific learning objectives associated with the discussion assignment? How will the online discussion and its results relate to the rest of the unit or lesson? Refer to the activity in http://jomarrabajante.weebly.com/course-unitactivity-objectives.html. The group discussion about the CinquinDemongeot model should be SYNCHRONOUS. However, peer review by other groups can be done ASYNCHRONOUSLY. All unit learning goals can be supported by asynchronous discussion through peer review. However, asynchronous discussion is only one of the activities. Asynchronous discussion is not enough to achieve all the goals. There are so many ways to model a biological phenomenon. There are also many ways to analyze a model. Hence, by peer review, students (or groups) can observe how the other students (or groups) modeled and analyzed the biological system. Each group should read and examine first the work of the other groups before posting.

2. What resources or materials, if any, will you expect the students to consult, and/or what experiences should the students undertake, before they post? 3. Will the discussion take place in smaller groups or with an entire class? If the discussion takes place in smaller groups, how will discussion results be shared with the rest of the class (across groups)? 4. How will the students be expected to respond to one another? What counts as a good response? 5. What will the instructors role be in the online discussion, and how will that be communicated to the students? 6. What is the assignment timeline? Will the discussion have phases, and if so, what happens in each phase, and how will the phases of discussion unfold? For

The discussion will take place between two groups (assigned by the instructor). However, all discussion outcomes will be shared with the rest of the class.

A group can do constructive criticisms regarding the other groups work. The group can compare and contrast their work with another group.

The instructor will supervise the assignment of groups. Check the discussion boards and clarify some ideas when necessary. Summarize important points at the end of the unit.

1) Each group submits to the instructor their original activity result. 2) The instructor assigns peer reviewers (other groups). 3) In the peer reviewer group, members are assigned to examine the other groups result regarding the following activity objectives (e.g.,

example, how will discussion progress from introductory messages into substantive discussion and meaningmaking?

compare and contrast their groups work): identify situations where the simultaneous decision network and the Cinquin-Demogeot ODE model can be used; explain the meaning of the state variables and parameters of the ODE model; describe the qualitative behavior of the ODE model using established theorems; and identify limitations of the Cinquin-Demongeot model. 4) The leader of the peer reviewer group integrates the reviews of all the group members. 5) The leader posts the peer review in the discussion board at the end of the unit. 6) The instructor summarizes important points and post in the discussion board. The instructor summarizes important points and post in the discussion board. If clarification is necessary, the instructor comments in the discussion thread. Students work is evaluated by giving Pass or Fail grade only (with output or no output).

7. How will the students work be evaluated? How will they receive feedback on their work?