Discussion Board Activities - Module 3

1.  3.15 Discussion Board Activity
2.  3.55 Discussion Board Activity
3.  Online Application Journal

You will probably want to print this page so that you have the assignment in front of you as you interact in the Discussion Board.  


3.15 Discussion Board Activity

First, you are to find newspaper or magazine articles on Michael Jordan that covered his leaving the Chicago Bulls in 1993 and returning to the NBA in 1995. Michael Jordan returned to the NBA in the middle of the season on March 19, 1995. He retired for a second time on January 13, 1999. He returned to play his first game for the NBA Washington Wizards on October 30, 2001 and played for them for two seasons. In the UTTC Digital Library, the database Academic Search Premier might be your best source of articles.

Within your team (Comets, Liberty, Monarchs, etc.), you are to discuss the articles you read about Michael Jordan. Members of your group will probably read different articles.  Focus your group discussion on the following questions:

1. According to the articles, what were the reasons or motives that Michael Jordan left the NBA for baseball and returned to the NBA Chicago Bulls?
2. Did different writers suggest different motives?
3. What other motives do you think entered into his decision?
4. Michael Jordan retired and returned in 1995 to play for the Chicago Bulls. He then retired in 1999 and returned again to the NBA for the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 seasons to play for the Washington Wizards. What were the reasons or motives for his return to play basketball for the Washington Wizards?
5. How are the reasons for returning to the NBA these two times different? How are they the same?

This is a small-group discussion, so your initial post may initiate the discussion and/or relate your thoughts to the posts of others.  In addition, since it is a discussion, you would not simply assign various pieces of the assignment to various team members.  These should be substantive posts, but they don't have to be long to be substantive.

By Monday, February 5, 2007:
At least by this day, post your initial substantive message in your team's Discussion Board - Groups forum titled MJ's Motives.  You will notice that there is no moderator assigned for this discussion activity, but there is a summarizer.  The summarizer's responsibility is to bring closure to the discussion by the date listed on the calendar, by posting your team's answers to questions 1-5 in your team's forum.  My expectation is that you will each visit and post in your Groups Discussion Board often (maybe daily), that there will be a "conversation" among the team members. 

By Wednesday, February 7, 2007:
Close out your team's discussion of Michael Jordan's motives.  Summarizer posts the team's responses to the questions. Post your summary just within the team's forum for this activity titled MJ's Motives. Use the same teams you have been using (Comets, Liberty, etc).

3.55 Discussion Board Activity

You have read a lot of material on motivation for this module.  You have read three chapters in the Cox textbook (1, 5, and 6) and the material on the TeleCampus course website. In addition, you have two relevant articles in your XanEdu materials (Treasure, 2001; Biddle, 2001).  Now it's time to synthesize that information.  Within your teams, you are to discuss and develop strategies to enhance participation motivation and prevent dropout in youth sports.  I will assign a moderator to help direct, focus, and re-direct the discussion.  Think of the moderator as the teacher who wants the group to discuss and then develop the strategies, but doesn't want to give any answers ....just like me....  :-)   

By Sunday, February 11, 2007:
Begin discussions of strategies within your team's Group forum (Comets, Liberty, Monarchs, etc.). Think of examples of how these strategies might be applied in sport settings.

By Wednesday, February 14, 2007:
Post your team's strategies to enhance participation motivation to Discussion Broad under Participation Motivation.  Then, individually, comment on at least two of the posts of other teams.

Online Application Journal 

NOTE: Your own post and your responses to others should be substantive.  Click on "substantive" for an explanation of the term's meaning in the context of the journal posts and this course in general.

At the end of each module, you will be asked to post one message in your Groups discussion board that: (1) identifies and discusses at least three major concepts, principles, or ideas gained from the readings and (2) describes briefly why the ideas are important or useful to you; that is, what is your understanding of each concept and what are the implications of each concept for your professional practice or how could they be applied in a sport context?

The aim of the online application journal is threefold:
(1) it demonstrates that you can discuss in your own words concepts from the readings,
(2) it provides a vehicle for relating course content to a "real-world" context or your own work applications, and
(3) it creates a portfolio of shared ideas as a knowledge product for the group. 

These posts are to be substantive posts, and will be evaluated based on the same rubric that was presented in Module 2.

Journal Group Membership

You will keep the same journal group membership throughout the semester. 

By Wednesday, February 14, 2007: 
Post your journal entry to your appropriate journal group under Groups.  Respond to the journal posts of at leaset one of the other members of your group.  

Substantive Posts in Discussion Board

A post or message that demonstrates substance contributes to the understanding and application of ideas by doing one or more of the following:

• Reflection about meaning: Describe thoughtfully what something means or new insights it provides, or raise a question as a seed for clarification or further discussion.
• Analysis: Discuss relevant themes, concepts, main ideas, components, or relationships among ideas. Or, identify hidden assumptions or fallacies in reasoning.
• Elaboration: Build on ideas of others or ideas found in the readings by adding details, examples, a different viewpoint, or other relevant information.
• Application: Provide examples of how principles or concepts can be applied to actual situations, or discuss the implications of theory for practice.
• Synthesis: Integrate multiple views to provide a summary, a new perspective, or a creative refashioning of ideas.
• Evaluation: Assess the accuracy, reasonableness, or quality of ideas.

Note: A substantive message does not have to be long.  Not all long posts are substantive, and not all short posts are nonsubstantive.