UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo Faculty Affairs

1-23-2020

Using Discord to Improve Student Communication, Engagement,

and Performance
Jorge Fonseca Cacho
University of Nevada, Las vegas, [email protected]

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/btp_expo

Recommended Citation
Fonseca Cacho, Jorge, "Using Discord to Improve Student Communication, Engagement, and
Performance" (2020). UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo. 95.
https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/btp_expo/95

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 Using Discord to Improve Student Communication,
Best Teaching Engagement, and Performance
Practices Expo 2020 Jorge Ramón Fonseca Cacho, PhD What times were you actively seeking help on discord? (select
all the times that you were active on the discord channel at
Department of Computer Science least once receiving some form of help or reading other

Teaching Practice and Evidence it student's messages that helped you. Even if once.)

the needs it addresses benefits students

Discord is a proprietary freeware VoIP application and digital An experimental discord channel was created for four sections of the
distribution platform designed for video gaming communities, same class taught by the same instructor. After several months of usage
that specializes in text, image, video and audio communication a survey was conducted to measure the student’s response to using
between users in a chat channel. Discord runs on Windows, Discord as an optional component to the class. Among the preliminary
macOS, Android, iOS, Linux, and in web browsers. findings we found that 80.9% of the surveyed believed that their grade
improved as a result of the discord. Furthermore, 98.5% of all surveyed
Using Discord, Instructors and Teaching Assistants (TAs) can responded yes to the question, “Do you think discord allowed you to
interact and help a student at any time including outside of receive help at times where you otherwise would not have been able to
regular business hours with a student’s homework assignment get help? (For example late at night before a deadline or in the early What times were you MOST active on discord seeking help?
(Assignments were typically due at night). It also allows AM hours).” All in all, a total of 23 questions were asked and the among
students to help each other while under the supervision of an the responses, 98.5% of all students found that they enjoyed discord
instructor. Because the messages are kept in a public archive, and would like to see it implemented in future classes as well.
other students can review them at their convenience to see if
On a scale of 1-5 where 1 is very negative and 5 is very
any information discussed may help them as well. This helps to
positive. How has the discord chat affected your engagement
prevent the same questions from being asked by multiple
students to the instructor. While the Instructor and TAs receive
with the instructor? Compare it to classes that only offer office
alerts of interactions, or questions directed at them (using hours such as the CS135 class, did you feel friendlier or more
@mentions) they can choose to respond immediately or engaged with the instructor through discord or not?
whenever they are available.

While UNLV Canvas and other discussion boards already allow

public student interaction, the technology of message boards
and threads is outdated and a very slow way to exchange Feasibility, Resources
information . Discord is essentially a public instant messaging
system that allows a live discussion and exchange to happen
with multiple messages exchanged per minute between
and where to find them
potentially a large number of individuals. Finally, it also • Discord (https://discordapp.com) is available for free and can
increases engagement and fraternizing between everyone be run directly on an internet browser, or downloaded to any
involved due to it being very similar to currently popular social
media systems and the gaming culture of Discord.
How other instructors •
computer or phone.
To create a server one can follow many non-technical tutorials
available on their official website. Once a server is created,
A: Approximately how many times did you request might adopt this practice multiple text or voice channels can be created for different
help on discord (next question will ask how many of sections or topics as desired. Feel free to contact me for
While the class where the experiment was run was a programming assistance.
these times you actually received help) class and the help provided in the discord channel was primarily
programming related help, the same idea of engagement and help
• Servers a re free to create and maintain. They will not incur
any cost aside from any compensation TAs or Instructors may
B: Approximately how many times did you actually available around the clock can be applied to any doctrine where there receive for their time responding to messages. Because most
receive help on discord. (whether it was another is either required student interaction (to replace messaging boards) or TAs have office hours they can simply have discord open and
student, TA, course instructor, or anyone else. where the student would otherwise have to wait to visit office hours or respond to questions there just like they usually do with e-mail
the tutoring center to receive help or clarification on a specific subject. and log time spent towards their weekly working limits.
Whether it’s in the English department and student needs help writing • Slack (https://slack.com) is another similar system that is less
A a paper, or the math department where the student needs help
B popular with students, but achieves similar interactions. There
understanding a formula or the Art department where the student can are more options out there, but Discord was chosen due to its
share his creation , receive critique and comment to improve the high popularity and ease of use.
piece, or even the hard or soft sciences where a student may need help • Contact Author for a copy of the full survey results.
on a concept. Discord can be applied to all of them.
Do you feel the Discord allowed you to have access to help References
working on your assignments on a 24/7 schedule? Guthrie, John T. "Teaching for literacy engagement." Journal of
literacy research 36.1 (2004): 1-30.

Purvis, Alison, Helen Rodger, and Sue Beckingham. "Engagement

or distraction: The use of social media for learning in higher
education." Student Engagement and Experience Journal 5.1
(2016).