Preparing the Discussion Post

Discussions, just like writing assignments, must meet scholarly criteria. In most discussions, you will be required to upload at least two discussion entries, or posts. One is the “content post”, which is your response to the discussion questions or issues noted in the syllabus. The second will be the “response post” which is your response to the content post of another student.

Content post: Each discussion will have its own specific topic area and the syllabus will explain the points you need to cover in your discussion. Be careful to address all the required points thoroughly. Where required, provide outside references, professional experience, or other supportive information.

Response post: Your response post should be a substantive response to the post of another student’s content post, your faculty mentor's post or an older discussion post. Your response should go beyond comments such as “How interesting,” or “Nice to meet you.” You may add information to the content post, ask an informed question, or share some professional experience related to the post. You may even be critical of the content of a post, as long as you maintain a scholarly tone of voice, and where possible, present a reference to support your point. Remember it’s appropriate to criticize information, but not to criticize the author.

Note: Your Faculty Mentor will be engaging in the discussion. In addition to preparing your own response post to another student’s content post, you may also respond to the Mentor’s comments or even to the response posts of other students.

Mechanics, composition, and timeliness: All discussion posts, whether content posts or response posts must be carried out in a professional tone of voice, using proper grammar and sentence structure, and, where appropriate, following APA form and style in citing outside resources. The length of the discussion post, and the deadline for submitting it also (as specified in the syllabus) form part of the discussion criteria.

Samples In this course, in Activity 1, you are asked to prepare an “Introductory Discussion Post”. Here are some examples of appropriate content and response posts for such a discussion.

HI: I’m Jerri Smith. My BA degree is in adolescent psychology from the University of Nebraska. I’ve been working as an intake worker in a drug rehabilitation center for the past five years and I’ve seen lots of changes that I’d like to make in our organization. Without the proper education, though, any changes I would suggest