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First Year Writing Program

Teaching Resources: Carmen

Tried & True Home | Using Ponders | Suggestions for Ponder Questions

Using Ponders

submitted by Andy Scahill

Carmen Discussion Board Usage & Suggestions

Why this may be useful in your class: Use of a Carmen discussion board helps to solve a number of rather pervasive and common issues in teaching English 110, among them:

stimulating class discussion on a particular issue/reading (especially good for 7:30am classes)
insuring that students perform the assigned readings
identifying potential issues with instruction to address in class
allowing students uncomfortable with in-class discussion to converse in a non-threatening atmosphere

What you need: One day of instruction (with laptop/projector) early in the quarter, the ability to access the site on a daily basis, a strict posting deadline, and a great deal of patience as students become familiar with discussion board practices

What to do:

Before the quarter, request and set up your Carmen site at http://class.osu.edu. The process is relatively simple with a fairly comprehensive tutorial, though the DMP is an excellent resource to utilize in putting together your class Web site.
For the discussion board, determine how many posts you expect your students to make over the course of the quarter (for instance, I require 18 posts out of 20 for the quarter—though 9 of those may be responses to other student’s posts rather than direct responses to my prompt).
Compose your ponder prompts with an emphasis towards questions that require students perform the assigned reading in order to answer the prompts. I use a combination of prompts dealing with different areas of class discussion:
- Rhetorical Visions Writing readings (e.g., “Kincaid claims in 'A Small Place' that touring is an escape from 'a life of overwealming and crushing banality and boredom and desperation and depression.' Does this seem to be a valid argument? Provide evidence to support your claim.”)
- Writing Analytically readings (ex, “What are the major differences between a five-paragraph ‘high school essay’ and the analytical ‘college essay’ you will be writing for Assignment 2? Which change is most significant? Why?”)
- A combination of RV and WA readings (ex, “Point out an instance of ‘difference despite similarity’ or ‘similarity despite difference’ in the Lorde and Fowler pieces. How do these observations complicate a traditional compare/contrast of these texts?”)
- Composition challenges/Self-Assessment (ex, “Summarize the general comments made in your peer reviews. Which comments have been most helpful? What do you plan to change? Are you encountering issues similar to those you found on other assignments this quarter?”)
Set a deadline for posts, and be insistent about it. If you set a deadline of 9:00pm the evening before class and then allow one to come in at 9:05pm, your grounds for denying an entry later at 9:30pm, 10:30pm, 12:00am, etc… is seriously undermined.
Use your students’ postings as a jumping-off point to enter conversation on a particular reading or composition issue—students have, after all, already performed a writing exercise that we often take class time to engage in. Point out similarities and differences of opinion and interpretation that occurred online, and specifically cite student responses—they’ll most likely be pleased that you’re taking the time to read and consider their responses.

Have an idea for Tried and True? Send it to fywp@osu.edu!

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