“This excessive politeness is likely an indicator that groupthink is lurking, ready to muzzle ideas that potentially strain group cohesion or challenge established authority and ideas—not an atmosphere we were hoping to develop in our graduate courses.”

In my experience (MDE program at Athabasca’s CDE) I think twice about challenging a fellow student’s opinion because of the possible extra costs of doing so (time, emotional involvement) and the risk of offending the colleague. I have a limited amount of time to hit a certain number of posts and replies, and the path of least resistance is to stay positive and stick to replying to posts that resonate with you.

This section has got me thinking that gamified discussion forum could have some merit. Instinctively, it feels a little juvenile for graduate studies but at the same time, there appear to be certain behaviors we want to incentivize. After reading this I’m a little surprised we are not given more detailed suggestions on discussion forum contribution – for example, suggesting we attempt to integrate a discussion’s core ideas into a summary or model once contributions have slowed. I also find it’s a real shame these discussions are not accessible via mobile.