Why I dislike "guided discussion"

Some course designers feel a need to ask students to discuss course-related topics. For instance, at the end of a segment, they'll write “What do you think about genetics? Please discuss this in the forums.”

This kind of open-ended discussion works fine in smaller, physical classrooms, where only one person may speak at a time and everyone must listen to everything that is being said. In such situations, a real discussion may happen and insights may percolate.

In online classes of hundreds of thousands, you get…

… noise. Hundreds of single-message threads, never leaving the realm of platitude.

Course designers: please, please, please do not give in to the temptation of using “guided discussion”. Given the present state of technology, it only renders the whole course forum useless.