Providing opportunities for dialogue and reflection

If you want to start an active classroom discussion, one of the worst ways is to give a long lecture and then simply ask, "Are there any questions?" This can put participants in the intimidating position of having to admit that they did not understand. 

If teaching is an art, the art of initiating dialogue and inviting questions is at the heart of it. The invitation should be genuine, letting participants know all of their questions and comments are appreciated and valid. And the invitation should be intriguing, setting up a reason for discussion. One of the best ways is to begin with a question yourself or to state a goal for the discussion. If the Discussion Forum is a focused activity and not for general use, you may want to state this guiding question or goal in the forum Description so that it will always be visible in the interface when learners use the forum.