Communicating Effectively

Guidelines for the Community Discussions

In an online course learners may begin as strangers, but they have a common goal: to reach a new understanding of the materials in the course and to share that understanding with others in the course. This requires a tone that’s characterized by respect and a style that invites further response.

We are using a special form of practice for the online forum to support clear and effective communication. The community discussion questions for the “Mindfulness Meditation” online course ask you to think about your own experience as it relates to the focus for the week. Be concrete in your response, and use examples if appropriate. In your responses to others, a succinct reflection and appreciation in the first-person of what you understand from their post will be very valuable.

We’ll encourage everyone to keep posts short—three to five sentences at most. Please also self-edit your comments. Let your writing express your innate clarity and creativity—the wisdom that is already always available, even as you are working through difficult or challenging material. Avoid offering opinions or advice; stay with the truth of your own experience as you cultivate shared meaning.

Respect is shown by writing in complete sentences and avoiding web shorthand. A good way to think of this kind of communication is as sitting between spoken and written language: try to balance the formality of writing with the casual nature of speech. Also keep in mind that online communication doesn’t always represent irony or humor in the ways we intend.

As a condition of practice in this forum, please don’t post large blocks of unparagraphed text. They can be hard to read, and they discourage flexible interaction and response. And by now most people understand that the use of ALL CAPS is perceived as “shouting” in online settings and is not a best practice.

In online communication the best way to create interaction is to reflect or reframe something another has posted—for example, responding with a paraphrase; a request for clarification; or a specific expression of encouragement, agreement, or another perspective. You should also keep this goal of interaction in mind when you open a new discussion.

Read your post aloud before putting it into the discussion and imagine how you could make it even more inviting and clarifying for others. Please don’t post opinions that presume general agreement on matters of morals, spirituality, or politics or that seem confrontational in ways that go beyond the framework of the course. You may be asked to clarify the tone and intent of comments that are not congruent with these guidelines; comments may be deleted by the moderator if they are disruptive to the learning environment.

We’ll ask everyone to stay within the boundaries of the topics of that discussion thread. Answer the discussion questions from your own first-person experience, and keep your answers brief so that everyone can engage efficiently.

The point is to create an environment that is intelligent, effective as a learning community, and safe and that positively engages the skills of mindfulness and unconditional presence being taught in this course.