Rubrics for designing and evaluating online asynchronous discussions

The purpose of the study reported on in this paper was to identify performance criteria and ratings in rubrics designed for the evaluation of learning in online asynchronous discussions (OADs) in post-secondary contexts. We analysed rubrics collected from Internet sources. Using purposive sampling, we reached saturation with the selection of 50 rubrics. Using keyword analysis and subsequent grouping of keywords into categories, we identified 153 performance criteria in 19 categories and 831 ratings in 40 categories. We subsequently identified four core categories as follows: cognitive (44.0%), mechanical (19.0%), procedural/managerial (18.29%) and interactive (17.17%). Another 1.52% of ratings and performance criteria were labelled vague and not assigned to any core category.     

Reconceptualising moderation in asynchronous online discussions using grounded theory

This article reports a grounded theory study of the moderation of asynchronous online discussions, to explore the processes by which tutors in higher education decide when and how to moderate. It aims to construct a theory of e‐moderation based on some key factors which appear to influence e‐moderation. It discusses previous research on the definition and practice of e‐moderation, and then describes the study, which involved four e‐moderators working in two different university contexts. Key themes on e‐moderation, which emerged using a grounded theory approach, are discussed. It proposes a framework for e‐moderation and suggests that as a facilitative activity, it should be sufficiently contained within a ring‐fenced learning arena. Factors outside and inside the ring‐fence that appear to influence e‐moderation and their implications for future theory development and validation are discussed.     

Analysing peer feedback in asynchronous online discussions: A case study

Education and Information Technologies - Peer feedback is referred to as comments provided by one student to another with the intention to aid their peers’ progress in learning. The responses...     

Support services and learning styles influencing interaction in asynchronous online discussions

This paper reports a case of online classes from the English Language Teaching Programme at Anadolu University, Turkey. The study used an explanatory case oriented research design that assisted to examine relations between students’ learning styles and factors influencing students’ participation in asynchronous interactions in online courses. The study was carried out during the 2006–2007 academic year with a sample of 139 junior and senior students. The converger learners were more involved in discussion boards compared to other learning style groups. The most popular support service was found to be pedagogical and social guidance for all types of learning styles while the least preferred support services were the administrative and technical.

Unterstützungsdienste und Lernstiele zur Beeinflussung von asynchronen Online‐Diskussionen

In diesem Papier wird vom English Language Teaching Program der Anadolu Universität in der Türkei berichtet. Die Studie nutzte ein Erläuterungsprogramm, das zur Unterstützung von Beziehungen zwischen dem Lernverhalten und Faktoren, die die Teilnahme von Studenten an asynchronen Interaktionen in Online‐Kursen beeinflussen. Die Studie wurde 2006 und 2007 von einer Gruppe von 139 Junior‐ und Senior‐Studenten durchgeführt. Die “Converger” ‐Lerner waren im Vergleich zu anderen Gruppen. stärker in Diskussionsgruppen engagiert. Als der populärste Unterstützungsservice wurde der sowohl pädagogisch als auch sozial führende für alle Typen von Lernstielen empfunden, während die mit administrativ und technischem Schwerpunkt am Ende der Beliebtheitsskala rangierten.

Les services d’assistance et les styles d’apprentissage influencent l’interaction dans les discussions asynchrones en ligne

Cet article étudie le cas de cours en ligne du Programme d’Enseignement de la Langue Anglaise à l’Université Anadolu en Turquie. Dans cette étude on a utilisé un plan de recherche orienté vers l’examen de cas qui a aidé à examiner les relations entre les styles d’apprentissage des étudiants et les facteurs qui influencent leur participation aux interactions asynchrones dans les cours en ligne. Cette étude a été conduite pendant l’année universitaire 2006–2007 avec un échantillonnage de 139 étudiants de 3^e et de 4^e année. Les apprenants convergents participaient davantage aux groupes de discussion si on les compare aux groupes possédant d’autres styles d’apprentissage. Il ressort que le service d’appui le plus populaire était l’orientation pédagogique et sociale, ceci pour tous les types de style d’apprentissage alors que les services d’appui les moins populaires étaient d’ordre administratif et technique.

La influencia de los servicios de apoyo y de los estilos de aprendizaje sobre las interacciones en las discusiones asincrónicas en línea

Este artículo informa sobre el caso de cursos en línea dentro del Programa de Enseñanza de la Lengua Inglesa en la Universidad Anadolu de Turquía. En el presente estudio se utilizó un diseño explicativo de investigación orientado hacia los estudios de casos para facilitar la revisión de de las relaciones entre los estilos de aprendizaje de los alumnos y los factores que influyen sobre la participación de los alumnos en interacciones asincrónicas dentro de los cursos en línea. El estudio fuez llevado a cabo durante el año académico 2006–2007 con una muestra de 139 estudiantes de 3° y 4° año. Los discentes convergentes estaban más involucrados en los paneles de discusión en comparación con grupos con otros estilos de aprendizaje. Se notó que el servicio de apoyo más popular era la orientación pedagógica y socialesto para todos los tipos de estilos de aprendizaje mientras los servicios de apoyo menos preferidos eran administrativos y técnicos.     

Higher-level knowledge construction in asynchronous online discussions: an analysis of group size, duration of online discussion, and student facilitation techniques

This study is concerned with the challenge of understanding what factors may influence students’ higher level knowledge construction. We defined higher level knowledge construction occurrences as the sum of the number of phases II to V measured using Gunawardena et al.’s (J Educ Comput Res 17(4):397–431, 1997) interaction analysis model. This paper is organized into two studies. In the first study, we examined the relationship between the frequency of higher level knowledge construction occurrences and group size, as well as the duration of the online discussion. Data were collected through online observations of 40 discussion forums. We found a significant positive relationship between group size and the frequency of higher level knowledge construction occurrences. However, there was no correlation between the duration of the online discussion and the frequency of such occurrences. In the second study, we examined the types of student facilitation techniques used. A further analysis of the data was conducted—of the 40 forums, 14 forums with higher incident rate of higher level knowledge construction occurrences were identified. Fourteen less frequent forums were then randomly chosen from the remaining forums. We found significant differences in the frequency of four student facilitation techniques employed between the more frequent group and the less frequent one. The results of this study suggest that using these four techniques more frequently may promote knowledge construction in asynchronous online discussions.     

Development of reasoning skills through participation in collaborative synchronous online discussions

This article investigates the effect of participation in synchronous online discussions on the development of individual reasoning as manifested in reflective essays. Students from a fourth-grade classroom engaged in a series of real-timeonline discussions. The format of the discussion was based on the Collaborative Reasoning approach which has clear guidelines and procedures. The results showed that compared to the students from the contrast classroom, the students who had experienced synchronous online discussions wrote essays with more satisfactory arguments, counterarguments, rebuttals, and textual information. In addition, they wrote longer essays which contained fewer irrelevant statements. These effects of online discussions were consistent between girls and boys and between shy and non-shy children. The students' uses of arguments and rebuttals, as well as the length of their essays, were adequately predicted by the frequency of their contributions in the discussions. The present study suggests that when an online chat is implemented with an instructional approach which has well-established procedures and effective moves, it can provide an intellectually stimulating context in which all students can learn to reason by interacting with one another.     

Production blocking in brainstorming arguments in online group debates and asynchronous threaded discussions

Educational technology research and development - Online group debates hosted in asynchronous threaded discussions can facilitate critical thinking between discussants (and increase deeper...     

The role of students' motivation in peer‐moderated asynchronous online discussions

This study conducted a content analysis of online discussions to understand the nature of computer‐supported collaborative learning and discover how students' motivation, which is a crucial factor to the success of collaborative learning, relates with their interaction and knowledge construction in peer‐moderated online discussions. Discussion contents from 23 students in an online class were analysed. The results indicated that perceived value, competence and autonomy were critical factors that influenced lower level interactions; intrinsic motivation was the critical factor that influenced the individualistic elaboration interactions, whereas relatedness was the critical factor that influenced the collaborative elaboration interactions. The results also indicated that autonomy and relatedness were the critical factors that influenced the moderation behaviours. The findings suggest that teachers in online classes should promote students' motivation, and more importantly, scaffold student moderators in meaningful learning during peer‐moderated online discussions.     

Interaction and cognitive engagement: An analysis of four asynchronous online discussions

Online discussion plays a unique role in face-to-face and distance teaching and learning. Interaction and student cognitive engagement during the online discussion are critical for constructing new understanding and knowledge. This article analyzes types of interaction that occur during online discussions, examines levels of student cognitive engagement in each discussion, and explores their effects on and implications for learning and teaching in higher education. By combining methods of social network analysis with qualitative content analysis, the article explores new methodologies for analyzing participation, interaction, and learning that take place online, and suggests areas for research in learning and teaching online.     

Supporting problem solving with asynchronous online discussions: a social network analysis

Educational technology research and development - Asynchronous online discussions (AODs) are a central component of online courses and have been widely implemented in case-based instruction (CBI)....     

Personalised knowledge representations: the missing half of online discussions

In this paper, we highlight a concern with using online discussion for learning. We argue that there is a lack of technological support for the development of personalised knowledge representation for most online discussion forums. Analyses of existing discussion forums suggest that there is a range of collective knowledge representation mechanisms which support a group or a community of learners. However, such mechanisms may not necessarily lead to learners' internalisation of collective knowledge into personalised knowledge. We discuss how internalisation can be facilitated through the notion of knowledge objects, while externalisation can be mediated by idea artefacts. These notions are translated into technological supports and suggestions of how online discussions can be designed differently from the common threaded discussion.     

Solving ill-structured problems in asynchronous online discussions: built-in scaffolds vs. no scaffolds

Solving ill-structured problems is regarded as an important learning outcome in education as it allows learners to apply theories learnt into real practice. An asynchronous online discussion, with extended time for reflection, is an appropriate learning environment to engage learners in solving ill-structured problems. However, scaffolds may be needed to support learners in the online discussions. This study explores the effect of online scaffolds in supporting a group of graduate students' ill-structured problem-solving processes in asynchronous online discussions. The results of this study showed that the use of the online scaffolds did not lead to a significant difference in the number of ill-structured problem-solving processes. Further analysis revealed that wrong selection of message labels and under-usage of sentence openers affected the results of this study. Improvements for online scaffolds include having more precise message labels and sentence openers based on Socratic questioning approach.     

How day of posting affects level of critical discourse in asynchronous discussions and computer-supported collaborative argumentation

In asynchronous threaded discussions, messages posted near the end of the week provide less time for students to critically examine and respond to ideas presented in the messages than messages posted early in the week. This study examined how the day in which messages are posted (early, midweek and weekend) in computer-supported collaborative argumentation affect the number of responses elicited by arguments and challenges, and how its effects differ across the four types of exchanges (argument–challenge, challenge–counterchallenge, challenge–explain, challenge–evidence) that serve as indicators of critical discourse. This study found that the day of posting had a significant effect on the number of responses elicited per message, with the greatest to smallest effect on argument–challenge, challenge–counterchallenge, challenge–explain and challenge–evidence exchanges respectively. These findings highlight some of the limitations of asynchronous discussions, and suggest alternative ways to implement and design discussion environments to promote higher levels of critical discourse.     

'Intentional repetition' and learning style: Increasing efficient and cohesive interaction in asynchronous online discussions

This study verified the efficacy of the intentional repetition technique in improving interaction in asynchronous online discussions by taking into account the learning styles of the participants. A conceptual framework served for the development of the technique, which conceptualises efficient and cohesive interaction on a continuum of process that move from social presence to production of an artefact. Sixty-one university students participated in the study. A quasi-experimental research design was used. The subjects, who were assigned randomly into two groups, were tested using Kolb's learning style inventory. The results showed that the experimental group exposed to the intentional repetition technique produced significantly better interaction than the control group, regardless of their learning styles, which had no significant effect on the interaction. Moreover, there was no interaction effect between the learning styles and the treatment. The implications arising from these results identify various suggestions for increasing the coherence and depth of the interaction amongst students in asynchronous online discussions.     

Project-based learning and student knowledge construction during asynchronous online discussion

Project-based learning engages students in problem solving through artefact design. However, previous studies of online project-based learning have focused primarily on the dynamics of online collaboration; students' knowledge construction throughout this process has not been examined thoroughly. This case study analyzed the relationship between students' levels of knowledge construction during asynchronous online discussions with respect to engagement in project-based learning. Graduate students' online postings in a course that comprised both project-based and non-project learning activities were coded and counted for knowledge construction, teaching, and social interaction moves using computer-mediated discourse analysis. Chi-square analyses found that the instructor's teaching discourse remained fairly consistent during project-based and non-project learning. Despite this, students' online discussions during project-based learning were characterized by more advanced levels of knowledge construction, where ideas were rationalized and integrated into plausible solutions. In contrast, students' online postings outside project-based learning rarely moved beyond the lower levels of information sharing and idea exploration. Based on these results, guidelines for designing and facilitating online project-based learning are presented and discussed.     

Linkages between cognitive and social dialogue patterns during collaborative small-group discussions

BackgroundCollaborative small-group discussions have the potential to promote reading comprehension, critical thinking, and argumentation. However, few studies have gone beyond cognitive processes to understand the social characteristics of dialogue and their potential contributions to students’ cognitive processing in turn-by-turn dialogic exchanges.AimsThis study closely examined dialogues between speakers and addressees regarding their levels of cognitive processing (i.e., cognitive dialogue patterns) and social processes reflecting social cohesion (i.e., social dialogue patterns). The aims were to understand, first, the relations between students' cognitive dialogue patterns and their social dialogue patterns, and second, the relations between students' cognitive dialogue patterns and peers’ social dialogue patterns.SampleThis study included 4070 speaking turns generated by 120 fifth-graders in 60 small-group discussions.MethodsStudents participated in small-group discussions, called Collaborative Social Reasoning. Dialogue between pairs of group members formed social networks, based on which Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) were specified.ResultsFindings showed that speakers' social dialogue patterns were associated with their cognitive dialogue patterns. However, receiving social dialogue patterns from peers did not always predict students’ advanced types of cognitive dialogue patterns.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that cognitive and social aspects of small-group discussions are intricately linked, and that encouraging social cohesion does not guarantee that students will engage in collaborative and critical discussions.     

Student-facilitators' roles in moderating online discussions

Intellectual, social, managerial and technical are four commonly reported categories of facilitation in online discussions. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether these four broad categories of facilitation were equally applied in online discussions and which specific skills were perceived to be more important. In this study, students were facilitators of online discussions. Each student-facilitator led a group discussion and participated in two additional discussions moderated by other student-facilitators. Three groups of students were selected for data collection. Results indicated that the intellectual, social and managerial categories of facilitation were highly applied, while technical facilitation was less used in the online discussions. Also, summarising discussions was perceived to be the top facilitation skill. This paper presents findings of the study and discusses issues involved in the study.     

Student contribution in asynchronous online discussion: a review of the research and empirical exploration

The increasingly prevalent use of Internet in schools and homes has resulted in asynchronous online discussion becoming an increasingly common means to facilitate dialogue between instructors and students, as well as students and students beyond the boundaries of their physical classrooms. This article is organized into two main sections. In the first section, we review 50 empirical studies in order to identify the factors leading to limited student contribution. Limited student contribution is defined as students making few or no postings, or students exhibiting surface-level thinking or low-level knowledge construction in online discussions. We then identify the various empirically based guidelines to address the factors. In the second section, we discuss three potential guideline dilemmas that educators may encounter: (a) use of grades, (b) use of number of posting guideline, and (c) instructor-facilitation. These are guidelines where previous empirical research shows mixed results when they are implemented. Acknowledging the dilemmas is essential for educators and researchers to make informed decisions about the discussion guidelines they are considering implementing. Finally, we report two exploratory case studies on student-facilitation that we conducted. Using students as facilitators may be an alternative solution to educators who wish to avoid the instructor-facilitation guideline dilemma.