BOOK: AOD Foundations

6. Writing a Prompt

Now we come to the heart of the manner: Writing a prompt for an AOD.

We know that the way in which a question or prompt is written will influence the engagement and depth of the online conversation (Bradley et al., 2008; Ertmer et al., 2011).

Choosing a structure (which we explored in the previous chapter - structures such as role play) can help shape the task and assign roles to learners. But what if you don't want any of these bells and whistles, and instead want to engage in a traditional, question-and-answer type discussion. What are tips and tools for writing an effective and engaging prompt?

In the subchapters that follow, you can peruse some of the frameworks for writing a discussion prompt. They include:

• Blooming questions
• The CREST+ Models
• Socratic Questions
• Habits of Mind
  
• Critical Incident Analysis
• Andrews' Question Nomenclature
• Insights from Prompt Engineering

References