If you’ve ever spoken with someone who has taken an online course, you’ve probably heard criticism of online discussion boards. They are often dismissed as busywork or a burden, as students struggle to come up with meaningful replies to their classmates. In a study of online students at three private universities across the United States, many participants reported seeing little value in the standard “post-and-reply” discussion boards. Students also noted that these discussions often feel inauthentic, repetitive, and disconnected from the dynamics of a real classroom (Sandidge & Schultz, 2024).
Because this inauthentic or misrepresentative version of classroom discussions have a few notable impacts on student learning. This starts with the initial requirements for discussion boards. Most discussion boards require anywhere initial posts to be anywhere from 150-500 words long depending on the level of the class, but we don’t expect that same level of response rigidity from our students. In a classroom discussion, we expect them to fully formulate ideas, not meet a certain word count. This leads to students having to add a lot of filler to their responses rather than focusing on personal reflection or the relevant content. (Schultz & Sandidge, 2022). Additionally, the traditional discussion board format leads to lower levels of social interaction due to the lack of back-and-forth that you would normally experience in in-person classroom discussions since students are not usually required to look back at the responses that they receive (Garces et al, 2024). While these types of barriers to learning can lead to frustrated students and instructors, there are ways that we can revamp discussion boards to make them a better learning experience.
Learning Requires More Than Posting: The Community of Inquiry (COI) Framework
Online discussions can be highly beneficial when thoughtfully designed to support cognitive, social, and instructor presence. Cognitive presence encourages critical thinking and reflection. An example of this would be to ask students to analyze a case study or evaluate conflicting viewpoints. Social presence fosters connection and peer interaction, such as having students respond to a classmate’s post with their own experiences or examples. Instructor presence provides guidance and meaningful feedback, like highlighting key ideas in a discussion or posing follow-up questions to deepen understanding. Students engage more deeply when they understand the purpose of a discussion and have scaffolds in place, such as sample questions, context-based answers, or the use of Socratic questioning. Socratic questioning is a method of guided questioning that encourages critical thinking by prompting learners to analyze assumptions, explore evidence, and examine the reasoning behind their ideas. These strategies not only increase participation but also promote deeper thinking and more meaningful learning (Lin et al., 2024).
One of the core components of the COI model is meaningful instructor engagement. While discussion boards can seem to be fairly self-contained and student-led, instructor presence is needed to make them feel authentic and worthwhile. Students, whether or not they admit it, desire to be seen and heard by the professor in a timely manner, so prompt responses are vital to a more-authentic online discussion board (Adade et al., 2025). In a study by Schultz and Sandidge (2022), students highlighted the importance of instructor response time saying that they were motivated to watch lecture content earlier because they knew that their professor would respond to any questions within the first 24 hours of a lecture being posted. In further interviews, it became clear that one of the best ways to combat unauthentic online discussion was the student’s ability to ask questions and to receive prompt response times. An easy way to encourage this type of interaction is to create a Q&A board that is periodically monitored so that students can ask questions and get their timely responses.
AI as a Catalyst for Deeper Thinking in Online Discussions
AI can be a powerful tool when reimagining online discussion boards. Rather than centering discussions on producing the “right” answer, AI can help shift the focus toward inquiry, analysis, and evaluation. By intentionally incorporating AI into discussion activities, instructors create structured opportunities for students to engage with technology while practicing creativity and critical thinking. When students question, fact-check, and expand upon AI-generated responses, they strengthen their ability to assess credibility, verify accuracy, and recognize gaps in reasoning. In many cases, AI outputs may lack depth or nuance, which can spark richer discussion and deeper engagement with course material. Used thoughtfully, AI becomes less of a shortcut and more of a catalyst for meaningful learning (Lin et al., 2024).
Examples and Considerations for Using AI in Discussion Boards
- Generate an AI Response First
Students begin by prompting an AI tool with the discussion question to produce an initial response.
- Critically Evaluate the Output
Students analyze the response for accuracy, credibility, missing perspectives, bias, and surface-level explanations.
- Deepen and Revise
Recognizing that AI responses can be incomplete or overly general; students expand, refine, and strengthen the answer using course readings and credible sources.
- Provide Clear Instructor Structure
Faculty should explicitly frame AI as a tool for critique and inquiry, not as a shortcut for completing the assignment.
AI can be an excellent tool to help build upon students’ curiosity on a subject. Asking questions has always been a vital part of the learning process, but students may decide against it, or simply forget, if they think of a question when they aren’t in a face-to-face classroom! To address this issue, encourage them to ask AI to answer their questions when they need a quick response and are not in class. Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT and Claude can function as faster and more comprehensive search engines, so encouraging students to use them as such will help them quickly get answers to questions before they have time to forget them. With that being said, you should also give students guidelines on how they should interact with what an LLM says. This is where the discussion board format becomes useful. Instead of a traditional discussion board where students have to respond to other people, you could do the following:
- Students Ask an LLM
Students think of a question about the content you are covering in class and ask their preferred LLM.
- Students Review the Results
Next, the students have to verify the results of what the LLM said. They should cite lecture content, the course textbook, and outside sources to support their thoughts on what it said.
- Students “Respond” to Others
Instead of a traditional response, the students then read what other students asked and how they verified information. They then have the option to respond to their peers’ questions or respond to their own posts stating interesting ways that they saw other people verify information and what they learned about the topic via other students’ questions or their own research to verify their own results.
While this process can seem very “hands-off” for the professor, this is not the case! Any time that you incorporate AI into the classroom, it is vital to be extra attentive to how the students are using it to ensure that they are using it as a thinking partner instead of using it as their brain. It is natural for people to do what they believe to be easiest if they aren’t otherwise instructed, so it makes sense that if students are told to use AI, they may not use it responsibly or in a manner conducive to learning. To avoid this, consider modeling the exact behavior that you want to see! If you are teaching in person, do a live demonstration showing them what you are looking for or post a screen recording of you using AI properly with Canvas Studio! In addition to modeling responsible AI usage, it alleviates any potential miscommunications over what you are looking for and shows students who are not as tech-savvy how to successfully complete the assignment.
Designing AI-Enhanced Discussions That Increase Engagement
When you are originally creating your discussion board question, you should focus on open-ended, opinion-based prompts. There is a tendency to equate the length of the discussion prompt with a good discussion prompt, but that isn’t necessarily the case. For example, a professor could write a prompt asking a student to read a chapter from the textbook, watch a video, then write a 150-word response connecting their ideas and themes may seem like a deep prompt, but there is not much room for personal applications or authentic discussion because there are only so many relevant responses. To simulate authentic discussions, consider the following:
- Ask them how a concept relates to their personal career goals
- If they are comparing two theories or ideas, ask them which they prefer and how they have seen that in their own life
- Ask them what AI says about a certain idea versus what they personally think about it
Additionally, instead of saying, “Respond to two of your peers in no fewer that 100 words,” try suggesting how exactly they should respond. For discussions on ground, you can ask someone to explain their responses in more detail, but that is not available when it is asynchronous. To help them get ahead of this, you can ask them to do the following:
- Ask the original poster at least one thoughtful question about their post.
- Identify one point they agree with and one point they disagree with.
- Compare the other student’s post to their own, focusing on ideas that challenged their thinking or perspective.
Including peer review and multimedia responses in online discussion boards can significantly increase student motivation and engagement. In one study examining video-based discussion formats, 44% of students agreed that they found it more effective to explain their ideas in a video format than in writing. Because requiring webcams may create a technology gap for some students, instructors can offer flexible options such as voice recordings or optional video submissions. In the same study, 67% of students reported producing higher-quality work when they knew a peer would be viewing it, and roughly 60% agreed with the benefits of a structured peer review process. In practice, this might look like students using AI to generate or refine an initial response, posting a video or audio explanation of their analysis, and then providing structured peer feedback that evaluates both the AI critique and the student’s reasoning, which strengthens social presence and accountability in the process (Kim et al., 2023).
Moving Beyond the Traditional Discussion Board Model
Traditional discussion boards still have their place; no one is suggesting abandoning them entirely. However, increased student access to technology and the rapid development of AI have created a need to reimagine how discussion spaces function. Incorporating AI into discussions acknowledges a tool students already use and invites it into the learning process in purposeful, responsible ways. When structured intentionally, AI can prompt students to question assumptions, evaluate information, and refine their thinking rather than simply post surface-level responses. In this way, discussion spaces become more authentic, dialogic, and reflective. They can shift from routine participation to meaningful academic inquiry.
Resources
Adade, J. R., Amos, P. M., Antwi, T., Amoako, B. M., & Danquah, S. O. (2025). Teacher-Student Interpersonal Relationship in Digital Education: Issues and Implications for Pedagogy. In Interpersonal Relationships in the Contemporary 21st Century Society. IntechOpen.
Garces, K. R., Sexton, A. N., Hazelwood, A., Steffens, N., Fuselier, L., & Christian, N. (2024). It takes two: online and in-person discussions offer complementary learning opportunities for students. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 23(3), ar34.
Kim, J., Lee, Y., & Kim, M. (2023). The use of ChatGPT in education: Applications, challenges, and ethical considerations. Healthcare, 11(8), 1181. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10124679/
Lin, X., Luterbach, K., Gregory, K. H., & Sconyers, S. E. (2024). A case study investigating the utilization of ChatGPT in online discussions. Online Learning, 28(2). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1428200.pdf
Sandidge, C. R., & Schultz, B. F. (2024). Building connections and enhancing learning: Student perspectives of traditional discussion boards in online courses. Journal of Educators Online, 21(4). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1445537.pdf
Schultz, B., & Sandidge, C. (2022). Improving online discussion boards: What do students say?. The Northwest ELearning Journal, 2(1).