Asynchronous online threaded discussions are widely recognized as a tool to enhance learning in the virtual classroom.  While they can serve as a mechanism for reinforcing material and promoting a deeper understanding of course content, discussion boards often lack rich and dynamic dialogue, and instead serve as a field of obligatory discourse, hasty postings, and repetitive content.  This study examines measures to promote meaningful interaction in threaded online discussion postings.  The researchers created an innovative, activity-based exercise, the “suspense model,” that was utilized in two undergraduate hybrid online courses to promote student-centered learning and to increase the quality and quantity of student engagement.  The researchers conducted a second discussion board activity in the same classes whereby students were provided with the problem and supporting material at the outset of the exercise.  Qualitative methods were employed to measure student perceptions of learning, the quality of student performance on the exercises, and levels of interactivity.  Results indicate that students more promptly and thoroughly engaged in the discussion board utilizing the suspense model, although student perception of the exercise was not altogether favorable as compared to its conventional counterpart.

Sherry Southard earned her Juris Doctor from Arizona State University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the University of Nevada.  As the senior and managing associate with Forrest B. Johnson & Associates for six years, she worked as a trial attorney. Her areas of concentration were medical malpractice, catastrophic personal injury, tort and general litigation. In this position, she successfully argued Service Merchandise, Inc. v. Jackson, 221 Ga. App. 897, 473 S.E.2d 209 (1996) before the Georgia Court of Appeals.  After leaving that position in 1999, she worked as a sole practitioner. This transition gave her the independence to integrate her legal and business skills and share her knowledge. She has been engaged in numerous business ventures, including the co-ownership of a women’s consignment clothing boutique that sold couture designer merchandise in downtown Atlanta. Professor Southard served as an adjunct instructor at Herzing College and in the Atlanta Public School System Law Magnet Program before she accepted a full-time teaching position at CSU. She has taught courses in business law, introduction to the law, contracts and torts, business organizations, legal issues for managers, legal research and writing, advanced writing, technical writing, leadership skills, speech and technology and the law.  In order to further her professional skills while teaching, she served as a legal consultant for various local corporations and an arbitrator for the Atlanta Better Business Bureau. She also served as an Advisory Board Member to the Legal Aid Society, an organization that provides quality legal services to low-income individuals.

 

Christie H. Burton earned her doctorate from The George Washington University in human resource development  with a focus on human and organizational learning  and is the program coordinator of the Bachelor of Applied Science degree program at Clayton State University. Research interests include the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and organizational culture. As a former Army officer and member of her institution’s Veterans Task Force, Dr. Burton’s more recent research has explored female service members’ issues and student veterans’ transition and persistence in higher education. Dr. Burton serves on the board of the International Society for Exploring Teaching and Learning (ISETL).

 

Mara Mooney is a graduate of Lafayette College in Easton, PA (B.A. cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa) and Emory University School of Law (Emory Law Review; Dean's Fellow in Legal Research and Writing). She has been involved in paralegal education since 1996 and has taught at paralegal programs in Pennsylvania and Georgia. She is the author of the textbook, Fundamentals of Georgia Real Estate Law, and she researches and presents in the areas of legal studies education and pedagogical practices and standards.  She acted as Coordinator of the CSU Paralegal Studies Program from 2000-2003, and from 2003-present is a full-time teacher in the program who also academically advises students. Prior to joining the faculty at Clayton State, she was an associate with Alston & Bird, LLP in Atlanta, GA. Her law practice focused on representing commercial real estate clients. At CSU, Ms. Mooney teaches Introduction to Law & Ethics, Legal Research & Writing, Real Estate Law, Computers in the Law, and Law Office Skills.

 

Sherry Southard earned her Juris Doctor from Arizona State University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the University of Nevada.  As the senior and managing associate with Forrest B. Johnson & Associates for six years, she worked as a trial attorney. Her areas of concentration were medical malpractice, catastrophic personal injury, tort and general litigation. In this position, she successfully argued Service Merchandise, Inc. v. Jackson, 221 Ga. App. 897, 473 S.E.2d 209 (1996) before the Georgia Court of Appeals.  After leaving that position in 1999, she worked as a sole practitioner. This transition gave her the independence to integrate her legal and business skills and share her knowledge. She has been engaged in numerous business ventures, including the co-ownership of a women’s consignment clothing boutique that sold couture designer merchandise in downtown Atlanta. Professor Southard served as an adjunct instructor at Herzing College and in the Atlanta Public School System Law Magnet Program before she accepted a full-time teaching position at CSU. She has taught courses in business law, introduction to the law, contracts and torts, business organizations, legal issues for managers, legal research and writing, advanced writing, technical writing, leadership skills, speech and technology and the law.  In order to further her professional skills while teaching, she served as a legal consultant for various local corporations and an arbitrator for the Atlanta Better Business Bureau. She also served as an Advisory Board Member to the Legal Aid Society, an organization that provides quality legal services to low-income individuals.

 

Christie H. Burton earned her doctorate from The George Washington University in human resource development  with a focus on human and organizational learning  and is the program coordinator of the Bachelor of Applied Science degree program at Clayton State University. Research interests include the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and organizational culture. As a former Army officer and member of her institution’s Veterans Task Force, Dr. Burton’s more recent research has explored female service members’ issues and student veterans’ transition and persistence in higher education. Dr. Burton serves on the board of the International Society for Exploring Teaching and Learning (ISETL).