SSHRC
2007-2010

Arranging the virtual chairs: Do structured features help students engage in quality online discussions?

Feenberg, A., Abrami, P.C. (Concordia University), & Bures, E. (Bishop’s University)

Web-based, asynchronous discussion forums or bulletin boards are widely used in online learning, both to augment and serve as a replacement for classroom discussion. Correspondingly, the educational use of these technologies has been studied using a wide range of terms and frameworks --as "online classrooms" (Burge & Roberts, 1994), "learning networks" (Harasim et al, 1995), “communities of inquiry” (Rourke, Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 1999) and "knowledge building environments" (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1994), to mention only a few Canadian examples. Students and teachers able to leave electronic messages for each other and the class at any time can engage in reflective dialogue impossible face-to-face. The notion that students will learn through dialogue rests on a strong pedagogical tradition dating back to Socrates, but online learning environments were unimagined by Socrates. Students in online environments learn through writing and talking at one and the same time. Given the textual nature of online dialogue, students can re-read messages, edit their own messages with care, and reflect upon the dialogue at their leisure. As in talking face-to-face, students can wait eagerly for a reply, and can write messages building directly upon the points made by others. Through the combination of writing and talking, students can build knowledge together in collaboration, some of which they can make explicit in the online messages they write and the products or artifacts they create (cf. Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1994; Collins, 1992 and Hewitt, in press). Online learning allows teachers to assess students individually based on collaborative processes they engaged in, creating individual accountability. In general, conferencing has the advantages of written text as compared to oral communication. But conferencing also has the disadvantages of written communication including the time and effort and miscommunication that occur in online discourse. For example, it has oft-been noted that the lack of gestures and body language to convey one’s meaning may render difficult subtle negotiations. Unique ambiguities arise communicating online (Feenberg, 1991). In short, computer conferencing is a different and increasingly widely used form of learning. Students may have problems adjusting to the unique challenges of online learning. They may have difficulties conveying their own meaning and/or understanding the meaning of others. They may also fail to take advantage of the unique potential of the online learning environment. For example, they may not review messages or re-read them in light of a new message, failing to capitalize on the text-based manuscript available for them to use in their learning. Consequently, online discussions are not necessarily profound or meaningful. Participants may engage in surface learning which they demonstrate in many ways, ranging from writing messages that add nothing to the conversation in order to satisfy participation requirements, to writing polemical messages in which they do not elaborate or justify on the points they make. Students can post irrelevant or superficial messages that do not engage themselves or others in ‘deep’ learning. Students may post messages with little or no reflection, and they may fail to read closely the messages that others post. To meet course requirements, students sometimes post messages that simply agree with another student with no elaboration, wasting their own time as well as that of their peers. A hopeful approach to improve the writing and re-reading of online dialogue focuses on studying features embedded in the software to support users’ cognitive, collaborative and/or emotional processes. Systems have often been designed oriented to generic communication requirements; educational environments present specific challenges and needs. The challenges of communicating online may be addressed by the development of structured features which help scaffold communication. Such features may help students overcome the challenges of online learning and also may help them capitalize on the advantages of online dialogues. The proposed study falls within this approach. It aims to contribute to the understanding of a pedagogically-oriented online discussion, exploring the effectiveness and the usability of features such as keyword labeling, searching and inter-message links. By effectiveness we mean: do these features improve online dialogue and help students learn? By usability we mean, do students enjoy and voluntarily make use of these features?
For further information on this research project and on the Marginalia software, please visit http://webmarginalia.net/research/