Abstract
Online discussion board activities have traditionally been a primary method of providing student-to-student interaction, especially in asynchronous online classes. This study examines the impact of an alternate online discussion tool on student participation in online discussion assignments. Three identical discussion assignments were examined over the course of two semesters. The first semester utilized the traditional Learning Management System (LMS) threaded discussion board. The second semester incorporated Google Docs as the discussion platform. Overall, students using Google Docs made 68 percent more posts per student than students using the traditional LMS discussion board. Students using Google Docs also demonstrated more engagement by sharing professional experiences and teaching strategies more often than those students using the traditional LMS discussion board. While the data are encouraging, limitations of this study encourage additional research in the areas of discussion platform, discussion group size, and group assignment methods.
Highlights
This study grew from efforts to find a more engaging way to conduct discussion activities in asynchronous online classes
Students using the Learning Management System (LMS) platform made an average of 4.14 posts per student, while those using the Google Docs platform made an average of 6.15 posts per student
The results of this study support the use of Google Docs as an alternative to the threaded discussion format used by many LMS platforms
Summary
This study grew from efforts to find a more engaging way to conduct discussion activities in asynchronous online classes. The main goal of these discussion activities was to provide opportunities for students to apply the course content by discussing current topics and issues, such as assessment methods and standardized testing requirements, related to their practice as educators. Online discussion board activities have traditionally been a primary method of providing student-to-student interaction in asynchronous online classes (Aloni and Harrington 2018). Both faculty and students identify threaded discussion board platforms as a key weakness of Learning. “Increase Engaged Student Learning Using Google Docs as a Discussion
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