Providing rigour, differentiation, and sense of community using a three-pronged VoiceThread discussion strategy during the pandemic

ABSTRACT Grounded in the Community of Inquiry framework, a three-pronged response to text discussion strategy was implemented in an online graduate level course. The strategy is made up of digital powerups, a guided self-connection section, and expressing what they learned from their peers. A qualitative content analysis of student reflections of using this strategy supports these claims: (1) the digital powerup strategy provided an opportunity for rigour and differentiation; (2) the guided approach of the ‘connect to self’ section balanced and complemented the open-ended nature of the digital powerup section; (3) structured peer takeaways led to a sense of community; and (4) the graduate students preferred the three-pronged discussion strategy to other models they have used before. This article has implications for higher education course designers and instructors to have a tested and educator-approved response-to-text model to use with any reading.