Online Discussion Environment Research Articles

STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION ON THE FACILITATION STRATEGIES PROVIDED BY TEACHERS IN ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE DISCUSSION

Facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion environment becomes essential aspects in learning. This present study was a case study aimed at exploring EFL students’ perception on facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion in terms of monitoring, feedback and scoring rubric implemented in the online discussion. Questionnaire was administered to one hundred students and interview was conducted to six voluntary students who were enrolled in courses with asynchronous online discussion. The result indicated that students’ perception on the facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion was neutral which indicated that facilitation provided by teachers did not become the main preference for the students in asynchronous online discussion. Students perceived teachers’ monitoring positively since the students need more guidances to understand the concept as well as to indicate that their participation is apprecited by the teachers. Meanwhile, students had neutral perception toward feedback and scoring rubric provided in asynchronous online discussion. They perceived that feedback and scoring rubric are not essential elements that influence their participation in asynchronous online discussion. Furthermore, it implied that the facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion has to enable teacher to check students progress and to motivate students to engage in asynchronous online discussion.

The Psychological Factors Influencing the EFL University Students' Development of Grammar Knowledge within the Online Discussion Atmospheres

Within the online learning atmospheres, language learners may confront certain obstacles in learning English grammar. Those obstacles may be associated to psychological factors which represent influential barriers on developing the grammatical knowledge of the EFL learners at the university level. Thus, the aim of the current research is to find out the exact psychological factors that influence the students' grammar knowledge. To achieve that aim, a close-ended questionnaire was designed to investigate the students' responses toward the psychological factors that can influence their grammatical knowledge. The sample of the research was the Iraqi EFL university students at the second year of the academic year (2020/2021) in English Department at the University of Anbar. At the first course, the sample of the participants (n=33) was exposed to online discussion learning activities for thirteen weeks to learn English grammar. At the end of the course, they were asked to respond to the items of the questionnaire. Depending on: T-test formula for one sample; weighted mean and percentage weight of the tenth items of the psychological domain, the collected data were analyzed. Results showed that the priority of some psychological factors like: anxiety, aptitude, attitude, and motivation were prominent and affective within the online discussion environments.
 Accordingly, these factors are necessary to be explored and governed within the language learning process in general and online learning in particular to get better students' performance.

Incorporation of Collaborative Problem Solving and Cognitive Tools to Improve Higher Cognitive Processing in Online Discussion Environments

During collaborative learning in online learning communities, teachers usually guide their students through the learning process by means of discussion-based didactics. According to relevant research, an uncontrolled, nonintrusive discussion environment is usually insufficient for promoting higher cognitive processing (HCP). To address this insufficiency, we adopted a collaborative problem solving approach as a teaching strategy to tutor students in online discussion activities using concept maps as a cognitive tool and using Facebook for communication within the learning community. We examined the system using quantitative content analysis and lag sequential analysis to verify the feasibility of the system for improving HCP. The results of this study indicate that the system is capable of guiding cognition and improving HCP. However, the results with respect to improvement must be evaluated after taking into account the appropriateness and difficulty of the questions that were posed to the learners. Moreover, by incorporating a scaffolding function as a teaching strategy and through the application of cognitive tools, learners were better able to concentrate on the learning activities.

Gamified Collaborative Environment in Moodle

Higher education institutions are struggling to enhance teaching and learning processes to support students' needs in this information age. In the last few years, gamification has been widely used to improve learning experiences in various environments. Education is one of the fields that adopted gamification as technological innovation to increase student engagement since it plays a critical role in higher education, especially in digital learning environments. Today, learning management systems (LMSs) are commonly used to facilitate learning processes. However, the engagement and the motivation of students when using such systems require extra attention. There is a need for an instructor to incorporate digital technologies with esteemed innovations to create an engaging learning environment. Increasing students' engagement is said to be evidence of increased learning. Therefore, this paper addresses these challenges by designing, developing, and evaluating a gamified collaborative discussion environment on the moodle LMS. To achieve this, the students in a postgraduate course used a gamified online discussion environment for eight weeks during group work to complete their term projects. Students' online learning pre-test and post-test data are utilized to investigate students' engagement in a gamified discussion environment. The results illustrate that there is a significant difference between pre-test and post-test results, which shows that the gamified online discussion environment has improved students' engagement. Furthermore, students that highly accessed the online course activities had a good engagement, which motivated students to conduct online collaboration according to the game-feature context.

Effects of Priming on Online Discussion Behavior

Online disinhibition effect describes the phenomenon where people feel less restrained in an online environment. People are therefore more likely to express thoughts and opinions that they normally would not share in a face-to-face interaction (Suler, 2004). Online disinhibition effect could either be benign or toxic. Students and instructors in an online learning environment often experience toxic disinhibition in several forms, including arguments about grades, emotional outbursts, potential death threat to the instructor, personal attacks, swearing, and heated arguments using upper-case letters (Rose, 2014). Suler (2004) proposed six factors that contribute to the online disinhibition effect. These six factors include dissociative anonymity, invisibility, asynchronicity, solipsistic introjection, dissociative imagination, and minimization of authority. Not all six factors proposed by Suler (2004) have received equal empirical evidence. Also, not all factors are relevant to online learning environments. This study therefore focused on the factor of invisibility and the lack of contextual cues as a result of invisibility. One of the ways to provide contextual cues in a situation that lacks face-to-face interaction is through the usage of color signaling. Color signaling refers to the usage of colored text to convey information (Elliot, 2015; Lemarié, Lorch, Eyrolle & Virbel, 2008). This study looked at the effects of red color signaling, because the color red has been associated with dominance and aggression (Elliot, Maier, Moller, Friedman & Meinhardt, 2007). It is also often associated with some type of warning sign, such as a stop light or a stop sign (Elliot, 2015). The implicit warning and danger conveyed by the color red has been shown to result in inhibited performance, such that participants who were exposed to the color red had lower performance on the subsequent achievement task (Elliot, Maier, Reidman & Meinhardt, 2007; Gnambs, Appel & Batinic, 2010). Similar effects have also been demonstrated in online gaming situations, where red priming messages lowered the amount of negative language usage (Maher, 2016). It is therefore likely that red priming message could also lower any potential toxic disinhibition in an online learning environment. The current study included two experiments that tested the effects of red priming message and black priming message on 1) participants’ expressed sentiment in their open- ended discussion posts, 2) participants’ self-rating of verbal aggressiveness, and 3) the total number of words generated in the open-ended responses. Past studies have shown that red color could inhibit task performance and reduce offensive language, but it is not clear how a red color priming message might affect discussion posts in a simulated online classroom. Similarly, black color has been shown not to inhibit behavior, but it is not clear how a priming message such as “exercise courtesy and professionalism” might affect participants’ behavior in an online discussion post. Results from the study indicated that red priming message caused participants to rate themselves as less verbally aggressive. This was likely due to increased attention to the priming message and the implicit warning conveyed by the color red. There was evidence that red priming message lowered the amount of negative sentiment expressed in the discussion posts. The results approached statistical significance, but it was not significant probably due to the low levels of negative sentiment expressed. Black priming message was found to be ineffective in lowering verbal aggression rating or negative sentiment expression. The findings from the current study have practical implications in the design of online courses. Instructors could use red priming messages as a strategy to promote a less verbally aggressive and negative online discussion environment.

Participation in online discussion environments: Is it really effective?

This study aimed to develop a rubric to assess participation of students in online discussion environments. For this purpose, the study included 168 students who participated in a course offered online during the spring semester of the 2015–2016 academic year. Developed based on the literature, the rubric consists of two parts (Form and Content, and Number and Density) and seven criteria in total. “Form and Content” consists of congruity of the message in terms of subject, clarity of the message, original value of the message, interactional value of the message, and directing the subject; whereas, “Number and Density” consists of the number of messages and their density. Four different discussion subjects were presented to the students in an online discussion environment. The researchers analyzed the students’ messages individually. Exploratory Factor Analysis was performed in order to obtain evidence for construct validity. After conducting the factor analysis, results showed that the first dimension, which is “form and content” sub-factor, is unidimensional. The “number and density” sub-factor was included in the graded scoring key based on the literature and expert opinion. The findings show that the graded scoring key is reliable and valid.

Comparing the use of a social annotation tool and a threaded discussion forum to support online discussions

This study aimed to understand how a threaded forum and asocial annotation tool, Diigo, supported online discussions. Forty-five pre-service teachers in two sections of an undergraduate course participated in two online discussion activities. A crossover study was conducted to examine student participation and interaction, and students' perceived learning experience in the two environments. In the first activity, students in Section A used Diigo for the online discussion while students in Section B used a threaded discussion forum. In the second activity, the two sections switched their online discussion environments. A participatory survey was administered at the end of the study. Postings in the two activities were analyzed and compared in terms of participation, focus, and interaction types. The results indicated that the different design of the two activities and the different functions of two environments impacted student participation, knowledge construction processes, and the foci of discussions. Social annotation tools could be used as an alternative environment to encourage certain types of interaction during online discussions.

Toward evidence-based learning analytics: Using proxy variables to improve asynchronous online discussion environments

Although asynchronous online discussion (AOD) is increasingly used as a main activity for blended learning, many students find it difficult to engage in discussions and report low achievement. Early prediction and timely intervention can help potential low achievers get back on track as early as possible. This study presented a data mining process to construct proxy variables that reflect theoretical and empirical evidence and measured the accuracy of a prediction model that incorporated all of the variables for validation. For the empirical study, data were obtained from 105 university students who were enrolled in two blended learning courses that used AOD as their main activity. The results indicated the high accuracy of the prediction model as well as the possibility of early detection and timely interventions. In addition, we examined participants' learning behaviors in the two courses using the proxy variables and provided suggestions for practice. The implications of this study for education data mining and learning analytics are discussed.

Exploring cognitive processing and behavioural patterns in a seamless online learning integrated discussion environment: a progressive sequential analysis

The rapid development of social network services SNSs has created new challenges and opportunities for online discussion activities. Because synchronous and asynchronous discussions have pros and cons, the present research team developed seamless online learning integrated discussion SOLID, which integrates synchronous and asynchronous discussions within the online discussion environment. In this environment, students' cognitive processing patterns and changes in patterns throughout the discussion contributed to our understanding of their strengths and limitations. Thus, we adopted project-based discussion activities as teaching activities, and we explored students' cognitive processing in an integrated discussion environment through lag and progressive sequential analysis. The results revealed that this environment elevated the diversity of student cognitive process throughout the online discussion. Moreover, the complete set of cognitive processing patterns could be divided into four periods, including the initial period, growth period, regulated period, and stable period. This study also discussed the features and limitations of cognitive processing in each period.

Students’ Perception of Learning in the Online Discussion Environment

Online courses have become a part of academic initiatives to supplement instruction in a blended learning format. They create numerous opportunities for collaborative learning based on learner-centred approach. Asynchronous online discussion forums set an environment developing a sense of community and engaging students in collaborative discussions making them meaningful learning activities. The main benefit of such activities for students is generating new knowledge and sharing it with peers. Online discussions open up new vistas on students’ writing skills and make them exposed to a range of alternative viewpoints. This paper reports about the investigation of asynchronous online discussion efficacy in the learning process. Students’ attitudes and expectations in such type of online collaboration were analyzed in order to present student’s perception of learning in the online discussion environment. The findings of this study indicate certain benefits and positive overall perception though some problems were identified and potential solutions were highlighted. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s1p202

Gaming personality and game dynamics in online discussion instructions

Gamification is the use of game mechanics to drive game-like engagements and actions. It applies game mechanics, dynamics and frameworks to promote desired learning behaviours. Positive and effective gamification could enhance learning and engage learners in more social and context-rich decision-making for problem-solving in learning tasks. Effective gamification design should understand the game personalities of learners, social engagement styles, and intrinsic- and extrinsic-motivated user styles initially and evaluate and select appropriate game mechanics, game dynamics, to create ideal gamification instructions. The research question this study investigated is: How will four types of gaming personalities (i.e. Explorer, Socialiser, Killer and Achiever) predict the level of game dynamics in online discussion environments? This study concluded that examining how gaming personalities relate to game dynamics in a gamified online discussion instruction is not sufficient to design effective gamification. It suggests future studies in game instructions should focus on the relationships between game dynamics, gamification contexts, gaming personalities or preferences, dynamic gaming engagement styles, etc.

Exploring the interactive patterns of concept map-based online discussion: a sequential analysis of users’ operations, cognitive processing, and knowledge construction

Concept maps can be used as a cognitive tool to assist learners' knowledge construction. However, in a concept map-based online discussion environment, studies that take into consideration learners' manipulative actions of composing concept maps, cognitive process among learners' discussion, and social knowledge construction at the same time are still lacking. Therefore, this study employed lag sequential analysis to empirically explore learners' behavioral patterns in a concept map-based online discussion environment. We explored learners' operations in the concept map tool, and their discussion behavioral patterns of cognitive processing phases and social knowledge construction. The results showed that it was easier for learners to define a node than to define a relationship when they used the concept map. Additionally, the concept map can enhance higher level cognitive processing phases and lead learners to return to the main discussions from off-topic discussions significantly.

Öğretmen Adaylarının Çevrimiçi Tartışma Ortamlarına Yönelik Görüşleri

Do online discussion environments provide affective opportunities to the pre-service teachers? What are the opinions and the expectations of the pre-service teachers to create more affective online discussion environments that motived the online participation? Departing from these questions, this research aimed to present some suggestions to create more affective online discussion environments that motived the online participation. The study data were collected from focus group interviews of pre-service teachers who have experience on online learning environments and online discussions. The study group consisted of 84 pre-service teachers whose grade were between 3rd year and 4th year. The study had conducted between fall semester of the 2007-2008 academic year and fall semester of the 2010-2011 academic year. Open-ended questions like “what are your reasons to participate or not to online discussion environment”, “what are your expectations from these environments” and “in which environment you would learn better” were asked to participants of focus group interviews. The obtained data were divided to the themes by content analysis. As a result of this study, seven themes were formed. These themes are Participation Forms, Hierarchical Structure, Feedback System, Discussion Topics, Comment Tracking, Expression of Instant Response and Visual Design. Some of the suggestions developed from these themes are online comments would be in visual and audible formats by adding visual and audible materials as well as having done in text format, therefore comment tracing would allow listening and watching, comments would be listed in an appropriate sorting methodology, reply comments would be displayed in different color and with quantity

Participation, interaction, and academic achievement in an online discussion environment

Though online writing can be beneficial for diverse students in out-of-school environments, there is little consensus on the value of its use in schools. This study examined the online discussion of 48 fifth-grade students and their teachers over the 2009–2010 school year in a public school with large numbers of English learners. We collected students' statewide standardized writing and reading test scores, as well as an archive of all participants' discussion threads during the school year. Students' participation and interaction pattern in the online discussion environment over a school year was examined using growth model analysis and social network analysis. The effect of students' participation on their academic achievement was analyzed using multiple regressions. The results suggest that well-designed online discussions among linguistically diverse upper elementary students can result in increased participation and interaction, leading to language and literacy development.

Making Sense of Large-Group Discussion Using Automatically Generated RST-Based Explanations

With the advances in social media technology, it became possible to involve large group in deliberations. Online discussion environments, such as forums and argumentation maps websites, allow solutions to be outsourced and bred from the crowd. Nevertheless, as a discussion develops, making sense of its content represents a big challenge for newcomers, thus impairing their potential participation. We claim a rhetorically organized text, automatically generated, fosters understanding by guiding participants though the content within chronological, logical and social dimensions of a discussion. An empirical experiment supports our claim. The experiment involved three groups of 16 people whose task was to answer a questionnaire on reading comprehension of a previous debate presented in one of three formats: forum, argumentation map or rhetorically organized text. We discuss the reasons that might explain the results and the implications for the design of large groups’ interaction tools.

Motivators of Student Contribution in Peer-Facilitated Online Discussion Environments

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.

Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Written Argumentation Qualities: From the Perspectives of Socio-Scientific Issues, Epistemic Belief Levels and Online Discussion Environment

This study investigated the relationship between pre-service science teachers‟ written argumentation levels about socio-scientific issues and epistemic belief levels in an online discussion environment. A mixed-methods approach was used: 30 Turkish pre-service science teachers contributed with their written argumentations to four socio-scientific issues. The pre-service science teachers‟ argumentations were evaluated by an adapted version of argumentation analysis framework developed by Sadler and Fowler (2006) and their epistemic belief levels were measured using the Epistemic Belief Questionnaire by Kuhn, Cheney, and Weinstock (2000). The qualitative as well as quantitative results indicated that: (1) the pre-service science teachers produced high-level argumentations for each socio-scientific issue in an online discussion environment, (2) levels of argumentations increased from climate change to human genome project issue, and (3) higher-level argumentations were produced for higher epistemic belief levels (i.e., multiplist and evaluativist).

Exploring the Use of Discussion Strategies and Labels in Asynchronous Online Discussion

Drawing on research in both constrained online discussion environments and strategy instruction, this approach combines explicit instruction on discussion strategies with the use of post type labels. In a trial of this approach in an online course, students actively used the discussion strategies and post type labels in their discussion. Analysis of student posts and survey responses suggested that students in the experimental group used discussion strategies more frequently after the intervention as compared to the control group and perceived that this approach positively impacted their discussions. In addition, there is a certain degree of improvement in the quality of discussion measured by Gunawardena, Lowe and Anderson’s (1997) critical analysis model.

Designing asynchronous online discussion environments: Recent progress and possible future directions

AbstractAsynchronous online discussion environments are important platforms to support learning. Research suggests, however, threaded forums, one of the most popular asynchronous discussion environments, do not often foster productive online discussions naturally. This paper explores how certain properties of threaded forums have affected or constrained the quality of discussions, and argues that developing alternative discussion environments is highly needed to offer better support for asynchronous online communication. Using the Productive Online Discussion Model developed by Gao, Wang and Sun, we analyzed current work on four types of asynchronous discussion environments that have been developed and researched: constrained environments, visualized environments, anchored environments and combined environments. The paper has implications for developing future asynchronous online discussion environments. More specifically, future work should aim at (1) exploring new environments that support varied goals of learning, (2) integrating emerging technologies to address the constraints of current environments, (3) designing multifunctional environments to facilitate complex learning and (4) developing appropriate instructional activities and strategies for these environments.Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic Asynchronous online discussion plays an important role in facilitating learning. It is hard to foster a focused, interactive and in‐depth asynchronous discussion in traditional threaded forums. Researchers have investigated multiple ways of structuring or facilitating asynchronous online discussions. What this paper adds The paper analyzes how existing features of threaded forums constrain the quality of online discussion. The paper identifies the progress made in designing alternative asynchronous discussion environments and discusses four major types of asynchronous discussion environments that have been developed and researched. The paper provides suggestions for developing future asynchronous discussion environments. Implications for practice and/or policy Designing alternative asynchronous discussion environments is necessary to improve the quality of online discussion and communication. New asynchronous discussion environments need to be designed to meet varied learning goals and facilitate complex learning. Appropriate instructional strategies need to be developed for both existing and new online discussion environments.

The Application of Cognitive‐Developmental or Mediated Cognitive Learning Strategies in Online College Coursework

AbstractThis research article explores the active use of cognitive‐developmental or mediated cognitive learning strategies in undergraduate online courses. Examples and applications are drawn from two online sessions integrating online interaction, essay and discussion assignments, as well as a variety of multimedia components conducted during the spring of 2008. While focus on the interaction among students remains an important aspect of the online discussion environment, particular attention is given to the interaction between the student and the instructor. This paper argues that while online learning environments are ultimately student‐controlled, they should be teacher‐centered. The findings of this research suggest that students are more directly influenced by an instructor's intentional effort to mediate the learning process than by the course objectives, material, or subject matter. Successful use of online technologies requires deliberate action on the part of the instructor to integrate various mediated cognitive learning strategies: (a) student participation and response is significantly increased, and (b) student motivation and morale is dramatically influenced.