Virtual University of Pakistan

Guidelines
For
Moderated Discussion Board

Table of Contents
Moderated Discussion Board (MDB):............................................................................. 3
Guidelines for Answering Moderated Discussion Boards Queries: ............................. 3
1.

Irrelevant queries: ................................................................................................... 3

2.

Non-queries statements:.......................................................................................... 4

3.

Cross answering:..................................................................................................... 4

4.

Lecture related ambiguous queries: ........................................................................ 4

5.

General course related queries:............................................................................... 5

6.

Multiple queries in single Post:............................................................................... 5

7.

Questions from Lectures other than the current one:.............................................. 6

8.

Questions in Roman Urdu: ..................................................................................... 6

9.

Fill in the Blanks/ MCQs: ....................................................................................... 6

10. Lectures related valid queries: ................................................................................ 7

Dos, Donts, Good Practices and Bad Practices: .......................................................... 7

Moderated Discussion Board (MDB):

MDB provides students of Virtual University an effective way to communicate with the
instructor to discuss the problems they face in understanding video lectures or other
course related material. MDB simulates the class room environment, questions asked by
one student and the corresponding replies by instructor, both are visible to all other
students just like in a class room discussion. So while replying student queries on MDB
instructor must demonstrate his/her best teaching and communication skills.

Objective:
This document is prepared to serve as the guidelines following which the instructors are
able to reply MDBs in a proper and appropriate way.

Guidelines for Answering Moderated Discussion Boards

Queries:
There are several diversions of student queries. Each diversion has a different way of
answering. Following are the diversions along with their most suitable way of answering:

1. Irrelevant queries:

Related to other subjects/disciplines of same domain: Sometimes student

asks the question related to other subjects but these are of the same discipline
(Computer Science or Management Sciences) e.g. if a student posts a question
of Networking (CS610) in the MDB of Human Computer Interaction
(CS408), the instructor should try to reply this answer to his/her best. He/She
can also consult the concerned instructor in this regard. But at the end of
reply, the instructor should mention that this question should be asked in the
relevant courses MDB.

Related to completely different domain: You may see students posting

MDBs of a completely different domain, e.g. student may post the queries of
3

Physics/Maths in Computer science subjects. While replying to these queries,

students should be guided to post the query in related subjects MDB only.

2. Non-queries statements:

Comments about Teacher: The comments about the teachers (likes &
dislikes) on MDB should be handled with care and discouraged in a polite
way.

Social/Economic Issues: It includes the students comments regarding social

problems, e.g. load-shedding or financial issues. The response to these kind of
statements should be in such a manner that you should motivate the students
to make the best out of the current scenarios. Furthermore, it can be guided to
the students to ask such questions through emails, as this discussion board are
for course related problems.

Greetings: These may include Eid/New year and other greetings. Simply
reply back the same greetings.

3. Cross answering:
If a student replies any other students queries then such student should be
discouraged (politely) and guided that MDB is place of asking queries from instructor
and only instructor are supposed to answer the queries.

4. Lecture related ambiguous queries:

If a student post a query related to your course but the query seems to be ambiguous
then first step is the check thoroughly whether this query is actually ambiguous; to do
so go through the handouts and video lectures. Avoid straight answering that The
question is unanswerable.

Such queries should be answered according to your understanding. Mention to

student that there is ambiguity in your query. Rephrase the query by making
appropriate assumption and then answer it accordingly. Also mention that if you are
unable to understand the answer, post you query after rephrasing.

5. General course related queries:

Assignment related queries: If the student asks directly about the solution of
the assignment then it should not be provided and ask student to make it on
his/her own. But if student ask about any ambiguity in the assignment then it
should be resolved.

Mistakes reporting: If any student points out any mistake in the handouts or
in video lectures then it must be verified first and if there is genuine mistake
then it should be replied to the student on the MDB by its right solution as
well as mentioned mistake should be corrected in handouts or video lectures.
If the mistake is not actually a mistake, then it should be explained to the
student.

Exams department and IT department related queries: These queries

comprise of the questions like other than academic related queries i.e. exams
or accounts issues. Such queries should be replied by providing the students
concerned department information (e.g. email address).

Exams/Quiz related queries: Students should be discouraged (in a polite

way) to ask exams/quiz related queries on MDBs. However, the queries are
supposed to be answered accordingly.

6. Multiple queries in single Post:

If there are more than one queries in a single post, then the queries should supposed
to be answered in the same order in which those are asked.

For more than 4 or 5 queries in a single post, ask student to first consult the contents
and helping materials (that are being provided to them) and then ask specific problem.

7. Questions from Lectures other than the current one:

Sometimes students ask questions other than the current lecture against which MDB
has been opened. In this case, if the query is from up-coming lectures then answer
precisely and at the end of the answer, mention that this question is from the
upcoming lectures, so that other students do not get confused.
On the other hand, if the question is from previous lectures then answer the question
thoroughly and also indicate that this question is from previous lectures.

8. Questions in Roman Urdu:

Although the questions asked in Roman Urdu (Urdu written using English
alphabets) should be answered properly yet it should be told to the students that if
they want their questions to be conveyed properly, they must try asking in
English.
Furthermore, translate the student query in English and then answer it
accordingly. It will be helpful for the student to learn how he/she can ask the
questions in a better way.

9. Fill in the Blanks/ MCQs:

Fill in the blanks and MCQs posted by the student should not be entertained.
Students should be asked to try such questions on their own and ask only specific
questions.

10. Lectures related valid queries:

Answers of queries should be well explained. Try to answer any concept with some
example (if needed) and with help of some images, table, etc because understanding
the concepts with example or images is very easy.
Also, for example, in programming subjects, if student is asking for complete code of
a specific problem; instead of providing him with the code, it is better to encourage
him/her to write some code first and then send that code for any corrections and
improvements.
Following are the types of valid questions students usually ask; with the keywords
exactly or similar to:

Knowledge: (Define, Describe, List, Write, Tell me, What, Brief, Verify,
and help me).

Comprehension: (Explain, Illustrate, Identify, Demonstrate,

Differentiate, Tell me).

Application: (Implement, give example, Solve )

Analysis: (Why, Reasoning)

Dos, Donts, Good Practices and Bad Practices:

Dos:

Give reference of the answer if it has been taken from any website, research paper
and book. This helps student to understand the concept in more detail.

Check spellings and grammatical mistakes

Keep your language simple and be polite

Use text standard formatting while answering the questions

Identify and address all questions asked in each post

Donts:

Dont leave queries unanswered (Specially for more than 24 hours)

Dont just copy paste answers from handouts or text book.

Good Practices:

Immediate answering of queries

Consulting any helping material or colleagues (who have previously handled the
course or have some domain knowledge), if unsure about the answer

Explain the concept differently or with different examples as discussed in

handouts or text book

Go through the previous semesters MDBs

Highlight the important points

Encourage and motivate student to study more

Appreciate a student on posting a good question

Try to write such statements like If you still have any confusion about the
concept then do discuss further at the end of each reply. This will encourage
students to remain in touch

Try to answers as simple and organized as possible.

Bad Practices:

Unnecessarily delay for answering the queries

If unsure about the answer of any query, dont reply the incorrect answer until the
points are clarified.

Conceived & Developed by:

Computer Science Department
Virtual University of Pakistan