Weekly discussion questions
Many online courses require weekly class participation in the form of responding to a weekly discussion topic or question. Students read the discussion question of the week. They can read (and reply to) any comments posted so far and then add their own response to the question. The instructors periodically respond to selected posts helping to guide the discussion, also indicating their presence and attention.

The nature of the question and the number of students in the class will impact student responses. An open-ended question asking students to describe their own experiences as they relate to a topic or issue will illicit a lot more unique responses than a question expecting a standard answer, where students who respond later may have a hard time coming up with something new to add.

Required weekly discussions with a large class can result in long conversations, perhaps too long to maintain interest or focus. Instructors may want to consider breaking a large class into smaller discussion groups.

Intersperse discussions within content
Requesting student input or feedback while they are exploring course content results in active learning. In some cases embedded discussions can be the equivalent of asking a question during a lecture, with the benefit that all students can participate rather than just the vocal ones.

Instructors can place a discuss/comment box in the midst of other course content, enabling students to enter and submit their post from within the context of that lesson. This integrates participation with content, helps the course feel interactive and engages the student with the material.

Synthesize and summarize
Besides just asking for direct student comments, add another dimension to student learning by asking them to summarize, synthesize and even elaborate on a selection of individual posts. They can also be asked to review or critique the other students' works. This requires careful reading and reflection by the students.

Lounge
A discussion need not necessarily focus on the course content. Some courses set up an online "Student Lounge," to give students a space for informally chatting with each other.

Feedback and help
Dicussions of technical problems, confusion over content and adjustments of schedule can also be set up. Students can feed off each other's knowledge even before the instructor gets to their emails. The commonly asked question can also be extracted for a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) in subsequent semester.

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