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Several research-based recommendations for effective questioning in discussion have been noted by Wilen (1986, quoted in Bonwell and Eison, 1991). All of these questions are useful to build into online e-tivities or to finish an e-moderator weave, feedback or summary message. However, online, introduce only one in each message to enable participants to respond in coherent threads.

• Plan key questions to provide structure and direction to the lesson, whether face-to-face or synchronous/asynchronous online. A useful sequence might be:
  

What are the essential features and conditions of this situation?

Given this situation... what do you think will happen next?

What facts and generalisations support your prediction?

What other things might happen as a result of this situation?

If the predicted situation occurs, what will happen next?

Based on the information and predictions before us, what are the probable consequences you now see?

What will lead us from the current situation to the one you've predicted?

In using this approach, some spontaneous questions will naturally evolve from students' responses, but the overall direction of the discussion has largely been planned.

• Phrase questions clearly and specifically: adapt questions to the level of students' abilities using vocabulary that is appropriate fro the students in the class.
• Ask questions logically and sequentially: random questions confuse.
• Ask questions at various levels: (for) cognitive memory to establish an initial base; higher level questions can then be posed to illustrate the objectives.
• Follow up on student responses: Teachers can elicit longer and more meaningful statements from students if they simply maintain a 'deliberative silence' after an initial response. Too often teachers ask rapid-fire questions, one after another, a circumstance more like an interrogation than a discussion.... Invite the student to elaborate, make a reflective statement giving a sense of what the student has said, declare perplexity over the response, encourage other students to raise questions about the issue at hand, or encourage students to ask questions if they are having trouble.
• Give students time to think when responding: The single most important action a teacher can take after asking a question is simply to keep quiet. An analysis of the patterns of interaction between teachers and student in hundreds of classrooms found that teachers averaged less than one second of silence before repeating or re-emphasising material, or asking a second question. Under such circumstances it is no wonder that students remain silent. Training teachers to wait silently for three to five seconds after a question achieved significant benefits: the length and number of appropriate but unsolicited responses, exchanges between students, questions from students and higher-level responses all increased while the number of students' failures to respond decreased.
• Use questions (and techniques) that encourage wide participation from students: frequent individual successes will ultimately empower even the most hesitant students to jump in.
• Encourage questions from students: Create a supportive environment that allows risk taking and then encourage students to ask questions. They will respond.

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