|
Title:
|
IDENTIFYING NON-FUNCTIONAL ISSUES AFFECTINGSTUDENT PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE DISCUSSION BOARDS IN HIGHER EDUCATION |
|
Author(s):
|
Ismail Bhula , Peter Every |
|
ISBN:
|
978-972-8924-42-3 |
|
Editors:
|
Miguel Baptista Nunes and Maggie McPherson (series editors: Piet Kommers, Pedro Isaías and Nian-Shing Chen) |
|
Year:
|
2007 |
|
Edition:
|
V II, 2 |
|
Keywords:
|
Discussion boards, social-psychology, usability, online communities, evaluating learning. |
|
Type:
|
Full Paper |
|
First Page:
|
141 |
|
Last Page:
|
145 |
|
Language:
|
English |
|
Cover:
|
|
|
Full Contents:
|
click to dowload 
|
|
Paper Abstract:
|
This study discusses the non-functional issues affecting student participation in the discussion board of a virtual learning
environment deployed at a UK university. "Non-functional factors" include any issues not directly related to technical or
system failures in the implementation of the online learning system. These factors include the system's usability, as
determined by the transparency and customisability of the software tools, as well as the social-psychological issues
connected with online learner engagement issues such as trust, community development, participant autonomy and the
correlation of effort and reward.
Our interest in the topic was stimulated by personal experience of the detachment and lack of engagement exhibited by
some students towards an online discussion tool, particularly when their classes were geographically co-located. The
study employs the qualitative content analysis of responses to three open-ended questions posed online by the
researchers.
The ultimate objective of the study was to make recommendations to improve future deployment of discussion boards
and other asynchronous online learning tools. A total of eight guidelines are presented to remedy some of the problems
identified, and to stimulate further research. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
