scholarly journals CREATING EFFECTIVE ONLINE DISCUSSIONS: OPTIMAL INSTRUCTOR AND STUDENT ROLES

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcia Dixson ◽  
Michelle Kuhlhorst ◽  
Amber Reiff
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Learning Groups ◽  
Teaching Online ◽  
Online Discussion Forums ◽  
Powerful Learning ◽  
Social Messages

Teaching online courses is unexplored territory for many instructors. Understanding how to use the powerful learning techniques involved in cooperative group learning in an online context is imperative. This paper is a first attempt to explore the dynamics of learning groups in the context of online discussion forums. Given the spread of online learning, the importance of this kind of research cannot be overstated. The authors analyzed the content of twenty asynchronous discussion forums within an online course in family communication. Their findings indicate that such groups send social messages at a fairly high rate; that participation seems to be fairly evenly distributed among members, although having a “leader” is helpful to the group’s process; and that instructor messages and competitive student messages have no apparent effect on the final product. However, they also found that two types of messages— orienting/giving information and showing solidarity—were found more frequently in groups that produced higher quality work. This research opens many questions and offers some guidelines about the most effective ways to structure online learning situations.

scholarly journals Enhancing learning through the discussion forum

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nantha Kumar Subramaniam
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Discussion Forum ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Online Discussion Forums ◽  
Collaborative Discussion

Asynchronous online discussion forums play an important role in adult online courses, and have many possible functions. Our experience in using the discussion forums in online courses for task-based collaborative discussion has led us to many questions about the optimal ways of using online discussion to support collaborative learning, such as how should instructors structure online discussions in a way that it promotes collaborative learning? What should instructors do to enhance learners' reflective thinking, critical thinking, or problem solving in online collaborative discussions? The challenges of using forum in learning have also been highlighted by many researchers. In this paper, we present a so-called “smart” discussion forum to support, monitor and facilitate task-based collaboration for the learning process of adult learners to advance their development of critical thinking.

scholarly journals Exploring discipline differentiation in online discussion participation

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Petrea Redmond ◽  
Jo Devine ◽  
Marita Bassoon
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Analysis Model ◽  
Online Discussion Forums

<p>Online discussion forums are often the only interaction or communication a student in an online learning environment will have with the course instructor and fellow students. Discussion forums are intended to elicit a range of thinking skills from the students, from purely social interaction to metacognition in order to achieve deep learning. Given the increasing use of online learning environments, it is timely to question whether students from different disciplines use online discussion forums in different ways, particularly in terms of their level of thinking. If there is differentiation, educators need to provide discipline specific opportunities for undergraduate students to interact in dynamic online discussions as part of a rich learning experience. This ethnographic study explored the types of online postings provided by students as part of their learning journey in two undergraduate online courses, one in an Engineering program and another in a Teacher Education program at a regional university. The goal of the research was to identify evidence of higher order thinking within students’ online posts. Data were analysed according to Henri’s Content Analysis Model for Asynchronous Conferencing.</p>

scholarly journals Using Design-Based Research to Develop Meaningful Online Discussions in Undergraduate Field Experience Courses

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Johnson ◽  
Laurie Hill ◽  
Jennifer Lock ◽  
Noha Altowairiki ◽  
Christopher Ostrowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Deep Learning ◽  
Organizational Design ◽  
Field Experience ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Task Completion ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Design Based Research ◽  
Online Discussion Forums ◽  
Group Structures

<p class="3">From a design perspective, the intentionality of students to engage in surface or deep learning is often experienced through prescribed activities and learning tasks. Educators understand that meaningful learning can be furthered through the structural and organizational design of the online environment that motivates the student towards task completion. However, learning engagement is unique for each student. It is dependent on both how students learn and their intentions for learning. Based on this challenge, the design of online discussions becomes a pedagogical means in developing students’ intentionality for the adoption of strategies leading to deep learning. Through a Design-Based Research (DBR) approach, iterative design of online learning components for undergraduate field experience courses were studied. For this paper, the focus of the research is on examining factors that influenced deep and surface levels of learning in online discussion forums. The results indicate that design factors (i.e., student engagement, group structures, and organization) influence the nature and degree of deep learning. From the findings, two implications for practice are shared to inform the design and scaffolding of online discussion forums to foster deep approaches to student learning.</p>

Utilizing Question and Answer Discussion Forums to Enhance Learning in University Health Courses

2018 ◽  
pp. 235-251
Author(s):  
Niyi Awofeso
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Discussion Forum ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Teaching Approaches ◽  
Online Discussion Forums ◽  
Course Outcomes

This chapter examines the contributions of Moodle's Q&A discussion forum platforms to optimizing cooperative and collaborative learning, validity of assessment of discussion forum posts, and achievement of course outcomes. The author studied: (1) How appropriate is the Q&A variant of online discussion forums in facilitating individual and collaborative learning? (2) How may course facilitators equitably grade online learning individual and collaborative learning activities using Q&A discussion forums? (3) Do learners' performance in Q&A category of online discussion forums predict performance in other assignments in online courses? (4) How well do learning activities in Q&A forums achieve courses' learning outcomes compared with other learning approaches? Survey and data analysis conducted by the author at HBMSU, UAE revealed that Moodle's Q&A discussion forum compares favorably with other teaching approaches in facilitating cooperative and collaborative learning, predicting overall learning achievement as well as improving validity of assessments.

Motivators of Student Contribution in Peer-Facilitated Online Discussion Environments

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-57
Author(s):  
Hew Khe Foon
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Personal Gain ◽  
Working Adults ◽  
Online Discussion Forums ◽  
Student Contribution ◽  
Discussion Topic

Online discussion forums are increasingly being utilized to provide a means for student-to-student interaction in e-learning environments. There is comparatively little research that examines peer-facilitated asynchronous online discussions compared to instructor-facilitated ones. This paper reports three studies on the motivators of student contribution in online discussions conducted within the context of peer-facilitation. These three studies involved the following samples: (a) full-time undergraduates (n = 47), (b) full-time graduates (n = 41), and (c) working adults in corporate settings (n = 62). Cross-comparison of the three studies revealed six major motivators: discussion topic, performance-linked incentive, personal gain, social capital, enjoyment, and response from other participants. Interestingly and contrary to expectations, the most common motivator was not performance-linked incentive such as marks for contribution but (a) the type of discussion topic followed by (b) the types of responses from other participants. Further analyses revealed that more graduate students reported being motivated by personal gain motives compared to undergraduates and working adults, and fewer undergraduates reported being motivated by the enjoyment of the discussion compared to graduates and working adults. More undergraduate and graduate students reported being motivated by marks compared to working adults. Synthesizing the findings of this study and those reported in other previous studies produces a more updated and comprehensive understanding of what motivates students to contribute in peer-facilitated online discussions. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Fostering Higher Knowledge Construction Levels in Online Discussion Forums

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 44-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khe Foon Hew ◽  
Wing Sum Cheung
Keyword(s):  
Group Size ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Knowledge Construction ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Online Discussion Forums ◽  
Student Facilitation ◽  
Facilitation Techniques

Prior research has suggested that higher levels of knowledge construction (e.g., where opinions are argued, challenged, or negotiated) have rarely been demonstrated in student online discussions. In this study, the authors replicate prior research on group size, discussion duration, and student facilitation techniques to examine the influence of these factors on the attainment of higher level knowledge construction. Data were collected from 12 online discussion forums involving undergraduate students and students’ reflection logs. Analysis of the data confirms a significant positive correction between higher level knowledge construction occurrences and group size. No correlation is found between the discussion duration and the occurrences of higher level knowledge construction. Further analysis between the higher and lower performing forums suggests that a certain critical mass, which appears to be a group size of about 10 participants, may be required to direct the discussion to advanced levels of knowledge construction. In addition, results show that students in higher performing forums used the facilitation technique of pointing, highlighting unanswered or unresolved issues statistically significantly more than their counterparts in lower performing forums.

scholarly journals Increasing Social Presence in Online Learning through Small Group Discussions

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mete Akcaoglu ◽  
Eunbae Lee
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Small Group ◽  
Group Size ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Group Versus ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Small Group Discussions

Social presence is a difficult to achieve, but an imperative component of online learning. In this study, we investigated the effect of group size on students' perceptions of social presence in two graduate-level online courses, comparing small group versus whole class discussions. Our results indicated that when in small group discussions, students perceived a higher level of social presence in terms of sociability, t(32) = 3.507, p = .001; social space, t(29) = 3.074, p = .005; and group cohesion, t(32) = 3.550, p = .001. We discuss how placing students in small and permanent discussion groups can augment social presence. Designers and educators of online learning can strategically modify group size to promote social presence in asynchronous online discussions.

Quantifying the Mismatch Between Course Content and Students’ Dialogue in Online Learning Environments

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunghoon Lim ◽  
Conrad S. Tucker ◽  
Kathryn Jablokow ◽  
Bart Pursel
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Latent Dirichlet Allocation ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Student Interactions ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Potential Success ◽  
Learning Platforms

Due to the internet’s increasing global availability, online learning has become a new paradigm for distance learning in higher education. While student interactions and reactions are readily observable in a physical classroom environment, monitoring student interactions and quantifying divergence between lecture topics and the topics that interest students are challenging in online learning platforms. Understanding the effects of this divergence is important for monitoring student engagement and aiding instructors, who are focused on improving the quality of their online courses. The authors of this paper propose a topic modeling method, based on latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), that quantifies the effects of divergence between course topics (mined from textual transcriptions) and student-discussed topics (mined from discussion forums). Correlations between the measured dissimilarities and (a) the number of posts and comments in discussion forums, (b) the number of submitted assignments, and (c) students’ average performance scores are presented. A case study involving video lecture transcripts and discussion forum posts/comments in a massive open online course (MOOC) platform demonstrates the proposed method’s potential success and informs course providers about the challenges of measuring the topics that interest students.

scholarly journals An Exploration of Metacognition in Asynchronous Student-Led Discussions: A Qualitative Inquiry

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha M. Snyder ◽  
Laurie P. Dringus
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environments ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Effective Strategy ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Online Learning Environments ◽  
Online Discussion Forums ◽  
Socially Situated ◽  
Study Student

Research is limited on how metacognition is facilitated and manifested in socially situated online learning environments such as online discussion forums. We approached metacognition as the phenomenon of interest partly through a methodological objective to evaluate the relevance of a metacognition construct and partly through a content objective to study student-led facilitation of discussions as a strategy in promoting metacognition. Results revealed that the metacognition construct was useful in helping us understand and organize the data and student-led online discussions can be an effective strategy for helping students develop dimensions of metacognition including knowledge, monitoring, and regulation. However, in order for students to use these skills effectively, instruction, motivation, and guidance are needed particularly related to regulation of metacognition and co-construction of meaning.

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