One of the problems I see with my course that I have not yet been able to remedy is the lack of group work. I want to have group work in the discussions, but I fear if I use the course the class size may be an issue when it comes to discussion groups. I want a good discussion in which all students are guaranteed student feedback in the forums, but I am also concerned about participation among my 9th graders. If I only have one class of around 20 students I thought it would be best to have the whole class involved in one discussion and not broken up into groups. The benefit of this is that it would allow more choices for students and counteract any non-participators in the discussion; however this might allow small groups or clicks to develop on their own which would allow for some students to be left out of the discussions.

The only alternative I can think of is to have the online discussions start out in small groups and then branch it out as a whole class discussion. This would hopefully give the best of both worlds. It would create the small groups to ensure no students are left out and open up a broader opportunity for discussion when it becomes a class discussion. What I think I’ll do is cut the course in half where the first week will be the small group discussion and the latter week will bring in the whole class.

I would also like to have groups in the assignments, but I want to ensure that the tasks can be evenly broken up to ensure individual accountability. For the power point presentation on culture I may have them break up the acronym SCLARGE – (Social Structure, Customs, Language/Writing, Art/Architecture, Religion, Government and Economy) so that each student is responsible for completing certain aspects of the assignment.  (4)