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Emerging technologies are offering alternative ways to conceptualize and deliver education. Subsequently, it revolutionizes how learners work, think, and build knowledge (Anderson & Eloumi, 2004; McConnell, 2010). Despite the convenience and success of online teaching and learning, many educators and learners often miss face-to-face contact when learning online. Stodel et al. (2006) echoed the same narrative. They identified the five common theme that is often missing in the robustness of online dialogue in an online environment, spontaneity and improvisation, perceiving and being perceived by the other, getting to know others, and learning to be an online learner.
In searching for a digital teaching tool to help educators enhance Community of Inquiry (CoI) that includes Teaching, Social, and Cognitive presence, a framework developed by Garrison, Anderson, and Archer in 2000, my team and I are interested in examining if Discord could facilitate casual interactions and create a deep and meaningful learning community.
Discord is described as an integrated chatbot and text platform that is primary for gaming purposes, ease of use, and hosting channels for many communities (Konstantinou & Epps, 2017). According to Cacho (2020), instructors can help and interact with learners anytime and outside of business hours by using Discord. It also allows learners to help each other under the supervision of the instructor. There are two examples of how Discord can be used:
Example 1: Using Discord as an Online Classroom
In this example, Chupacabra Tutorials (2020) demonstrated the ease of use for ready-made templates to build and customize a complete online learning classroom with the ability to manage roles, user permissions, homework submissions, widgets, and more.
Specific Issues to Examine
No doubt, using an external tool outside of the institutions’ Learning Management System (LMS) will allow more flexibility and permissions to customize one’s course. However, if an entire course is deployed on Discord, it is then mandatory for learners to use the tool to access their class. Thus, these are critical questions to ask:
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- Are there privacy policies in place to protect the learner’s accounts and data?
- How learners’ assignments are being stored and protected?
- How to address the learner’s right to refuse to use the tool?
- How address accessibility challenges for learners with special needs and international learners?
- What is the learner’s learning experience finding their content and needing to adapt to each instructor’s creative design?
Example 2: Using Discord as a Teaching Tool
In this example, Geoinformatics (2020) mentioned the benefits of using Discord to chat, screen share, upload images, voice share, and create online interactions in substitute for the classroom. Additionally, Schwartz (2021) stated the benefits as “a way to help students feel involved while not putting too many technical demands on them. There is a small learning curve, and student feedback has been very positive” (p.2).
Specific Issue to Examine
As an instructor who uses many digital teaching tools to create a wholesome experience for learners, I genuinely enjoy using Discord as a supplemental tool for discussions. Alonso et al. (2020) articulated that the platform is a less-formal interface that encourages learners’ engagement by removing intimidating and off-putting elements. This method of using Discord is my personal and my team’s preference to give learners a choice to opt-out using an external tool and not affect their learning journey and experience. However, there is still one question to examine:
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- How address accessibility challenges for learners with special needs and international learners?
To wrap up, I am looking forward to diving deep to explore the answers to these raised questions and concerns about Discord. Additionally, using it as a supplemental teaching tool to enhance Teaching, Social, and Cognitive presence. Lastly, I invite you to share your experience and challenges with Discord as a learner or instructor. Many thanks in advance.
Reference:
Alonso, N., Denton, A., Godin, C., Hillary, M., Puri, C., & Ravel, K. (2020). Discord: Gaming App to Rhetoric Class. https://www.digitalrhetoriccollaborative.org/2020/08/03/discord-gaming-app-to-rhetoric-class/
Anderson, T., & Eloumi, F. (2004). Theory and Practice of Online Learning. Athabasca University.
Cacho, J. F. (2020). Using Discord to Improve Student Communication, Engagement, and Performance. 2.
Chupacabra Tutorials. (2020, March 21). Discord for Teachers—Getting Started Tutorial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCA4TZOyOik
Geoinformatics. (2020, March 25). Using discord for distance learning/group work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwCZuqY4IDo
Konstantinou, G., & Epps, J. (2017). Facilitating online casual interactions and creating a community of learning in a first-year electrical engineering course. 128–133. https://doi.org/10.1109/TALE.2017.8252317
McConnell, D. (2010). The Experience of Collaborative Assessment in e-Learning. Studies in Continuing Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/01580370220130459
Schwartz, D. (2021). Using Discord to Facilitate Student Engagement. 2.
Stodel, E. J., Thompson, T. L., & MacDonald, C. J. (2006). Learners’ Perspectives on what is Missing from Online Learning: Interpretations through the Community of Inquiry Framework. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 7(3). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v7i3.325
Vanessa,
I love Discord because it has served as an informal way to connect to fellow cohort members and communicate within our small teams quickly. My concerns about Discord collecting data on me are negligible because developing relationships with members in the cohort is so vital. I do not want to miss any chit-chat within our cohort. But I have noticed I have developed an attachment to my phone I have never experienced before. This intense relationship with the cell phone is more than an ordinary (fixed-line) telephone (Carbonell et al., 2013). The 24-7 expectation I have placed on myself has interfered with my relationships and my time downtime in nature. I may even get hit by a car on my daily runs! Does this intense attachment increase levels of anxiety? Is anxiety a special need to consider?
Carbonell, X., Oberst, U., & Beranuy, M. (2013). The cell phone in the twenty-first century: A risk for addiction or a necessary tool. Principles of addiction, 1(1), 901-909. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-398336-7.00091-7
Great issue to explore, Vanessa. I have experience using Slack and Teams within my post-secondary teaching context and Discord for this cohort which has helped me see a few different sides of online communication for education.
I think the context plays a huge part in the selection and use of the tool. For example, in K-12 there may be vastly different requirements for online communication than there would be for post-secondary since you’re dealing with minors. For my kids, their schools use Google Classroom and communication is minimal. Personally, I don’t think an Instant Messaging tool for K-12 would be a good idea at all.
In post-secondary you would need to consider whether it is required or not. Discord is a tool our cohort chose to use, but nobody *has* to opt in. Once you make it required, you have a world of questions to address around the implementation and support for the tool. And would it be necessary for the tool to communicate with the school’s other technology systems for managing students? As you’ve mentioned, privacy needs to be address because I believe the location of the servers that store the data dictate which privacy laws applied to that data (don’t quote me on that). We tried using Slack, but it isn’t hosted in Canada so had to shut it down due to privacy issues.
I’d be happy to discuss this topic further outside of this comment section if you’d like. I have plenty more to say…
Vanessa, you’re asking excellent questions about use of tools such as Discord into learning environments, citing literature and bringing in your own professional experience as well. Your specific issue regarding accessibility is particularly important where there aren’t alternatives available and use is required, as pointed out by Wendy and David.