Online Discussion Platform Research Articles

Youth transitions as ‘wiki-transitions’ in youth policies platforms

ABSTRACT In recent years, a number of youth-focused online platforms have emerged which, in different ways, seek to support young people across Europe in building pathways to independent adulthood. In this article, we draw on data from Edgeryders, a recent youth policy research project, to reflect on the extent to which online discussion platforms are useful instruments for understanding the challenges youth face in their transitions to independent adulthood across Europe. Noting the collaborative emphasis articulated by both the project designers and participants, we ask how we might make sense of the data – and the meanings conveyed by that data – produced by online projects. We propose the notion of ‘wiki-transitions’ as a means of theorising young people’s use of online space to support their transitions to adulthood.

Behind the interface: Human moderation for deliberative engagement in an eRulemaking discussion

RegulationRoom was an online discussion platform designed to help stakeholders historically missing from the conventional rulemaking processes, such as ordinary citizens and small businesses, engage in thoughtful and informed discussion about a proposed rule. To achieve the goal, RegulationRoom adopted a neutrally engaged and expertise-based facilatative moderation system. The RegulationRoom modertor helped commenters better understand the topic, engage in the discussion more effectively, consider opposing views, and substantiate their own comments. In this study, employing social network analysis (SNA), I analyzed one discussion hosted by RegulationRoom on a debt collection policy. I used crosscutting interaction between different interest groups as a proxy indicator to measure deliberativeness. The results showed that the RegulationRoom moderator played a pivotal role in facilitating active discussion, encouraging both within-group and between-group (crosscutting) interactions. Further research needs to be done to illuminate what moderation strategies are most effective in encouraging crosscutting interaction, how the quality of comments (or participation) is improved, and what roles the moderator plays in the process. RegulationRoom also showed that the diffusion of social innovation is not so much a matter of technological progress alone as of social, cultural, and organizational change, both inside and outside the rulemaking context.

An Online Collaborative Discussion Platform for Bridging a Technological Reliance Gap in Higher Learning Institutions in Tanzania

An Online Collaborative Discussion Platform for Bridging a Technological Reliance Gap in Higher Learning Institutions in Tanzania

Variations in power of opinion leaders in online communication networks.

Online social media has completely transformed how we communicate with each other. While online discussion platforms are available in the form of applications and websites, an emergent outcome of this transformation is the phenomenon of ‘opinion leaders’. A number of previous studies have been presented to identify opinion leaders in online discussion networks. In particular, Feng (2016 Comput. Hum. Behav. 54, 43–53. (doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.07.052)) has identified five different types of central users besides outlining their communication patterns in an online communication network. However, the presented work focuses on a limited time span. The question remains as to whether similar communication patterns exist that will stand the test of time over longer periods. Here, we present a critical analysis of the Feng framework both for short-term as well as for longer periods. Additionally, for validation, we take another case study presented by Udanor et al. (2016 Program 50, 481–507. (doi:10.1108/PROG-02-2016-0011)) to further understand these dynamics. Results indicate that not all Feng-based central users may be identifiable in the longer term. Conversation starter and influencers were noted as opinion leaders in the network. These users play an important role as information sources in long-term discussions. Whereas network builder and active engager help in connecting otherwise sparse communities. Furthermore, we discuss the changing positions of opinion leaders and their power to keep isolates interested in an online discussion network.

To BlikBook or not to BlikBook: Exploring student engagement of an online discussion platform

ABSTRACTThis paper reports on the use of BlikBook, a course engagement platform for tutors and students that facilitates academic engagement in higher education. Based on a case study where BlikBook was essential to the design and delivery of a large undergraduate module, the paper discusses how the platform opens new avenues for student feedback, and encourages more independence in peer-led student groups. The paper makes several important contributions to knowledge and practice. Firstly, it outlines the process of introducing new software within a university context, and identifies potential pitfalls. Secondly, it offers an assessment of BlikBook that was previously untried in the case study organisation. Thirdly, previous studies have focused primarily on students’ perceptions of online platforms, rather than on the differences in experiences between students and tutors, whereas the present study explores both aspects. Findings suggest that incorporating BlikBook in teaching could improve student engagement.Abbreviation: (HE) - Higher Education

Text-mining as a methodology to assess eating disorder-relevant factors: Comparing mentions of fitness tracking technology across online communities.

Text-mining offers a technique to identify and extract information from a large corpus of textual data. As an example, this study presents the application of text-mining to assess and compare interest in fitness tracking technology across eating disorder and health-related online communities. A list of fitness tracking technology terms was developed, and communities (i.e., 'subreddits') on a large online discussion platform (Reddit) were compared regarding the frequency with which these terms occurred. The corpus used in this study comprised all comments posted between May 2015 and January 2018 (inclusive) on six subreddits-three eating disorder-related, and three relating to either fitness, weight-management, or nutrition. All comments relating to the same 'thread' (i.e., conversation) were concatenated, and formed the cases used in this study (N = 377,276). Within the eating disorder-related subreddits, the findings indicated that a 'pro-eating disorder' subreddit, which is less recovery focused than the other eating disorder subreddits, had the highest frequency of fitness tracker terms. Across all subreddits, the weight-management subreddit had the highest frequency of the fitness tracker terms' occurrence, and MyFitnessPal was the most frequently mentioned fitness tracker. The technique exemplified here can potentially be used to assess group differences to identify at-risk populations, generate and explore clinically relevant research questions in populations who are difficult to recruit, and scope an area for which there is little extant literature. The technique also facilitates methodological triangulation of research findings obtained through more 'traditional' techniques, such as surveys or interviews.

Clustering analysis of online discussion participants

In this paper we perform density-based clustering of discussion participants from online editions of two major Slovak national newspapers, Sme.sk and Cas.sk. We use language-independent statistical attributes characterising their communication patterns and the content of their posts. In each newspaper, we separately analyse two categories of news (domestic and international). A large majority of participants in each dataset was found to belong to one stable and dominant cluster present in all our datasets. We interpret it as comprising the “standard” or “average” discussion participants. The remaining participants could be viewed as various kinds of “anomalies” or “departures from normal” (not necessarily negative) and were assigned to several minor clusters. The shape and position of some minor clusters generalized well across the datasets. Overall, we found significant structural similarities between the four datasets in terms of histograms of attributes, the existence of one stable and dominant cluster, and the similar shape and location of several minor clusters. This is a significant result given that the four datasets were largely independent and the two newspapers adopted radically different policies for dealing with karma and foul language. The proposed approach therefore looks very promising as a means of identifying anomalous behaviour on diverse online discussion platforms.

A Polling-at-Home Approach to Improving Students' Learning Performance

Plenty-of-Time Teaching (PoTT) is a teaching strategy adopted by teachers to better understand students' learning status through pre-class activities in order to facilitate adjustments to teaching methods. Extending the concept of PoTT, the goal of this study is to explore the impact of Plenty-of-Time Learning (PoTL) on students' self-regulation, test anxiety, cognitive engagement, and learning performance. Participants were 167 students enrolled in an introductory educational psychology class in which the instructor used either PoTL or Just-in-Time Learning (JiTL) strategy. Students who adopted the PoTL strategy engaged in BlackBoard polling question-and-answer activities that helped teachers understand the overall learning status of the students. The study results indicated that the PoTL strategy enhanced student performance. We recommend that when using PoTL in the future, teachers can open up an online discussion platform to help students not only better understand their own learning situation but also improve their learning strategies.

Blood on Boylston: Digital Memory and the Dramatisation of Recent History in <em>Patriots Day</em>

Blood on Boylston: Digital Memory and the Dramatisation of Recent History in <em>Patriots Day</em>

Reflective practice-oriented online discussions: A study on EFL teachers’ reflection-on, in and for-action

This qualitative case study examined in-service EFL teachers’ reflective practice oriented online discussions in a graduate course. The analysis of reflective discussions and individual interviews brought about two conclusions about the nature of reflective practice as an embedded and collaborative process. First, the results regarding participants’ simultaneous engagement in reflection in, on and for-action indicate that reflective practice is an embedded process benefiting from the interplay of these three reflection types working together to lead to positive outcomes. Second, teachers benefit more from collaborative reflective practice through online discussion platforms that provide them with an online community of practice.

Creating Value in a Sport Coach Community of Practice: A Collaborative Inquiry

Coach education researchers have suggested that coaches require ongoing support for their continued learning and development after initial certification. Communities of practice have been used in a variety of settings, and have been identified as an effective means for supporting coach learning and development. However, researchers have yet to fully explore the value that can be created through participating in them within sport settings. The purpose of this study was to collaboratively design, implement, and assess the value created within a coach community of practice, using Wenger, Trayner, and De Laat’s (2011) Value Creation Framework. Participants included five youth sport coaches from a soccer organization. Data collection included observations and reflections from the first author throughout the study, two individual interviews with each coach, and interactions via an online discussion platform. The findings revealed that the coaches created value within each of the five cycles of value creation in Wenger and colleagues’ framework, and that they created value that was personally relevant to their immediate coaching needs. The coaches’ learning led to an increase in perceived coaching abilities.

An Intelligent Assessment Mechanism for Online Short Text

In this work, an intelligent online short text assessment mechanism that detects whether the learners address the expected discussion issues is proposed. The concept maps related to the learning topics are first outlined by the instructor. After each learner issues a short text post on the online discussion platform, a feature selection approach is adopted to derive the input parameters of a Support Vector Machines (SVMs) classifier. The classifier then determines if the learners’ posts are related to the concept maps previously outlined by the instructor. Notably, a feedback rule construction mechanism is used to issue feedback messages to learners in cases where the online short text assessment mechanism detects that the learners have strayed astray from the expected learning topics in their posts. The experimental results revealed that the proposed approach achieved very good classification results and verified its effectiveness.

Analyzing and Mining Comments and Comment Ratings on the Social Web

An analysis of the social video sharing platform YouTube and the news aggregator Yahoo! News reveals the presence of vast amounts of community feedback through comments for published videos and news stories, as well as through metaratings for these comments. This article presents an in-depth study of commenting and comment rating behavior on a sample of more than 10 million user comments on YouTube and Yahoo! News. In this study, comment ratings are considered first-class citizens. Their dependencies with textual content, thread structure of comments, and associated content (e.g., videos and their metadata) are analyzed to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the community commenting behavior. Furthermore, this article explores the applicability of machine learning and data mining to detect acceptance of comments by the community, comments likely to trigger discussions, controversial and polarizing content, and users exhibiting offensive commenting behavior. Results from this study have potential application in guiding the design of community-oriented online discussion platforms.

An examination of a blended learning approach in the teaching of economics to property and construction students

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report a case study from a project funded by the Centre for Education in the Built Environment (CEBE) on the use of a blended learning delivery approach in property education. “Blended learning” is a combination of multiple teaching styles and delivery methods which aim to complement each other and work to support and enhance student learning. This paper aims to examine the use of a blended learning approach to teach economics to property and construction students with the aim of improving students’ engagement and employability. Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents the development and evaluation of a Property and Construction Economics module. A case study approach was used. An end‐of‐year evaluation of the module was conducted which aimed to obtain students’ feedback on the new delivery approach. An evaluation questionnaire was emailed to 164 students who enrolled on this module at the end of the academic year. A total of 82 completed questionnaires were returned, giving a response rate of 50 per cent. An analysis of questionnaire responses and written comments is presented. Findings – The students found that the overall structure of the module, including the lecture, workshops, seminars and the use of the Virtual Learning Environment was integrated well and it enhanced their overall learning experience. The students found the module structure was practical and had a good balance of theory and practice and the use of an issues‐based approach made economic concepts easier to understand. Several suggested changes were also made, focusing on greater use of technology during the module delivery and making it more “blended”. It was suggested a more interactive delivery style should be adopted, which would provide more support to students for learning and developing professional skills. An online discussion platform should be developed to facilitate students’ peer support. Originality/value – This paper is the first study to report both lessons learnt in the development of a blended learning delivery method together with students’ interaction with the blended learning environment in property‐related courses in the UK. The paper therefore constitutes the “best available evidence” on these questions and its significance lies in this contribution to knowledge. Property‐related course providers can use the experience of this case study to inform the design of blended learning in their programme in order to improve students’ learning experience and engagement.

Free interactions, hierarchical structure: Factors explaining replies attraction in online discussions

Given the opportunity to interact freely, individuals conform to a structure, in which a few actors attract a large and disproportionate number of ties or relationships. Drawing from literature on preferential attachment and scholarship about online discussions, this study examines patterns of replies, which are one aspect of the disproportionate attraction of replies in forums, as predicted by two factors: number of existing replies and content of posted messages. In two 2X2 experimental designs conducted via a custom developed online discussion platform, 198 subjects participated. Findings show an interaction, where the number of replies increased replies attraction only for the high–interest messages, illustrating the balance between the individual and group dynamics levels in evoking discussions.

Using new technologies for stimulating interpersonal communication on HIV and AIDS

Part of the current academic discourse on primary HIV and AIDS interventions, is focussed on the importance of interpersonal communication. Interpersonal communication is believed to mediate campaign effects through the creation of social learning environments. Therefore, many HIV and AIDS strategies (e.g. entertainment education programmes) use mass media channels for conveying messages on the one hand and spurring interpersonal communication among target groups on the other hand. However, it seems hard to find solid evidence that mass media campaigns are able to stimulate interpersonal communication. Simultaneously, there is a rising interest in the use of new technologies for HIV and AIDS prevention. As a result of their unique characteristics, such as interactivity and anonymity, they could be more appropriate than traditional channels to stimulate interpersonal communication. To gain insights in the challenges and opportunities of new technologies for primary HIV/AIDS prevention, this article presents the findings of a case study carried out at the University of the Western Cape. This study aimed at developing, implementing and evaluating an anonymous online discussion platform for students to share experiences and discuss sensitive subjects. The discussion forum was used in three ways: compulsory (through curriculum integration), semi-voluntarily and voluntarily. An extensive evaluation provided strong evidence that the online discussion forum was only successful when formally integrated into the curriculum. The most important opportunity of the formally integrated online forum relates to the creation of a social learning environment. The anonymous character of the online platform allayed fear for stigma and discrimination and removed cultural barriers concerning the inappropriateness of discussing HIV/AIDS related issues. As a result, the platform created a space in which students discussed freely, considered old and new ideas, acquired knowledge, and learned to esteem varying views on the subjects of discussion. Although no assertions can be made on the effects of these outcomes on sustainable changes in attitudes or behaviour, these findings indicate that participating in an anonymous online platform can instigate students to reflect on HIV/AIDS in a different way.

Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Child

There is a huge gap between what should happen to children and the real-life situation of children. In real-life, millions of children across the world are poor, do not benefit from good enough healthcare, are not able to go to school or are forced to work. Of the children who work, many are forced to work in dangerous and difficult circumstances, for instance by fighting as child soldiers. Girls often don’t have the same opportunities as boys. Many girls are forced to marry and to have children at a very young age. HIV/AIDS is a big problem for children and young people in many parts of the world, either because their parents fall ill and die, or because they themselves are infected. There are large groups of children who are especially vulnerable, such as, for instance, children with disabilities.The European Commission proposes a strategy for protecting the rights of the child within the framework of the EU's internal and external policies. This strategy is based on the following specific objectives: launching an Action Plan on Children in Development Cooperation; publication of a consultation document with a view to identifying actions to be implemented in the future; setting up a European Forum for the Rights of the Child and an online discussion platform; involving children in the decision-making process; development of a communication strategy on the rights of the child, helping both children and their parents to improve their knowledge of these rights.This communication contributes to establishing an action plan for children, based on a holistic approach which takes into account the different facets of the problem and which draws on humanitarian, development, security and human rights policies.

Peer Scaffolding of Knowledge Building Through Collaborative Groups with Differential Learning Experiences

This article describes a case study of an international collaboration between two classes of fifth grade students through an online discussion platform with one group more experienced in online knowledge building activities than the other. Before the collaboration, the novice class tended to produce isolated notes filled with information and confined their efforts to their own selected topics. When the more experienced class joined in, the discourse of the students in the novice class changed from more information-centered toward meaning negotiations; many more of their notes were linked with one another and they no longer confined their reading and responses to their own study topic. The class more experienced in knowledge building was more ready to express disagreement in their discourse. There was also evidence that the novice class learned from the experienced class to ask more questions in their online discussion. When the joint-collaboration ended, the novice class could still maintain the changed interaction patterns that reflected a stronger knowledge building orientation.

Stories of Boy Scouts, Barbie Dolls, and Prom Dresses: Challenging College Students to Explore the Popular Culture of Their Childhood

This self-reflective article addresses the experiences two professors encountered when teaching a class about the popular culture of girls and boys to undergraduates at a small liberal arts college. The issues addressed include student reactions, teaching strategies, and the use of an online discussion platform and assessment. The instructors note that adjusting their teaching styles contributed to the eventual success of the course.

Stories of Boy Scouts, Barbie Dolls, and Prom Dresses: Challenging College Students to Explore the Popular Culture of Their Childhood

This self-reflective article addresses the experiences two professors encountered when teaching a class about the popular culture of girls and boys to undergraduates at a small liberal arts college. The issues addressed include student reactions, teaching strategies, and the use of an online discussion platform and assessment. The instructors note that adjusting their teaching styles contributed to the eventual success of the course.