DiscussionForums

//Using the web to facilitate discussion//
 * DISCUSSION FORUMS**

**What it is**

A discussion forum, or message board, is a website that hosts ongoing or time-specific conversations in the form of short posts. Discussion forums can be used to generate dialogue, solicit feedback, provide direct answers to questions, share and discuss practices and ideas, and kick-start collective knowledge creation. They can also serve as informal spaces for team building and networking.

**When to use it**

In the context of knowledge sharing and teamwork, discussion forums may be used to:


 * To create informal spaces where participants can exchange views about a variety of topics with the objective of team-building.
 * To complement learning methods or knowledge sharing activities (e.g. Thinking Hats, Peer Assist, Top 100 lists, Storytelling and Jigsaws).
 * To extend discussions once a face to face activity has ended (e.g. OHCHR meeting of heads of field presences; annual meeting of special procedures mandate-holders, etc.)
 * To start discussions in view of an event (e.g. Minorities Forum, Social Forum)
 * To facilitate interaction between people who would otherwise not come together in a face to face setting.
 * To discuss concrete subjects, projects or actions.

In the context of training, whether it is workplace training, on the job training or in traditional training formats, discussion forums can be used in the following situations:
 * To solicit feedback from participants.
 * To encourage participants to stay in touch after the course and share experiences relevant to its contents.


 * How it is applied**

Discussion forums should have explicit and clear objectives and require systematic facilitation in order to keep them alive. Discussion forums allow for asynchronous interaction (not at the same time), as opposed to synchronous (at the same time) tools like Skype, MSN Messenger, etc. This ensures that posts are thought out and analysed before posting and users can exchange views in different time zones. A well facilitated forum may give rise to blogs and wikis where knowledge that emerges from on-line discussions can be distilled in a more structured manner.

**What to consider**


 * Technological considerations**


 * You will require a software to host your discussions. The software can range from available online free tools like Google Groups, to software you can host in your own network, such as Moodle. The OHCHR Intranet, based on the Sharepoint platform, also has a discussion forum feature (please contact intranet@ohchr.org for additional information on setting up a discussion forum on the Intranet).
 * For multilingual forums, you can use automatic translation software such as Google Translate API


 * Methodological considerations**

As with all social media tools, behaviour patterns of participants will encourage or hinder interaction in the discussion forum. Organizational structures and hierarchy may sometimes discourage members from participating and being proactive. Some methodological suggestions to follow:
 * Focus on asking the right questions, rather than providing the right answers (take a bottom-up approach)
 * **Users/discussants need to be at the** **centre of the discussion** (The facilitator should only contribute 25% to 50% of the online material)
 * Encourage discussants to come up with a **set of guidelines or ground rules** for online discussion. For example,:
 * quantitative: 3 contributions per week
 * qualitative: support statements with facts, encourage responses
 * ** Keep discussions on track ** by contributing and ensuring that relevant information is shared
 * Summarize and relate posts to the overall theme/objective of the discussion.
 * Regularly encourage users to contribute.
 * Gather the best postings and distil the knowledge gathered through the discussion in the form of FAQs or a blog post ** . ** Make sure this is shared with all forum contributors.

Questions to encourage participation
 * Conceptual clarification questions—to make people think about concepts behind the arguments, e.g. Why are you saying that? How does this relate to what we have been talking about? Can you give me an example?
 * Probing assumptions— to get people to think about the beliefs the arguments are based on, e.g. What else could we assume? How can you verify or disprove that assumption? What would happen if …?
 * Probing rationale, reasons and evidence—to elicit support for the arguments, e.g. Why is that happening? Can you give me an example? What do you think causes …?
 * Questioning viewpoints and perspectives—to get people to consider other viewpoints, e.g. What are alternative ways of looking at this? How are x and y similar?
 * Probe implications and consequences, e.g. Then what would happen? What would be the consequences?
 * Questions about the question, e.g. What was the point of asking that question?


 * Where to learn more**
 * [|ITCILO] Blog http://tinyurl.com/3xrwktm
 * G. Slamon’s 5-stage model []
 * Dos and Don’ts []
 * [|E-moderating] **[]**
 * Planning and facilitating discussions []
 * []
 * Multilingual [|h][|ttp://tinyurl.com/3xukony]
 * E-moderating, Gilly Salmon, 2nd Edition, 2004.