An Assessment of the Undergraduates’ Participation in the Online Discussion Forum

Abstract

The paper examined the undergraduates' participation in the online discussion forum at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria

Online Discussion Forum as a Tool for Interactive Learning and Communication

“…Online discussion forums promote student-centred learning, making it possible for students to take charge and coordinate a discussion. [14] stated that increase in students" participation in online discussion forum increases their learning outcomes and achievement. They also identified four prominent pattern of participation in Online Discussion forum, ranging from Socratic questioning, sharing of personal opinion and experiences, brainstorming and reaction posting.…”

“…[16] stated that a well-designed and executed online discussion board can encourage students" activity, collaboration, motivation, and other social constructivist attributes of the learning process. According to the findings of an empirical study conducted by Tella and Isah [14], shows that the benefits of participating in online forum include; encouraging intellectual support in terms of sharing of ideas, introvert free expression of opinion, more participation of students than in a face to face class, promotion of social interaction, opportunity of asking colleagues what is not clear, and provision of motivation to be involved with the course content. Online Discussion Forum for teachers encourage and facilitate the sharing and exchange of teaching experiences and expertise, and it serves as a repository for content in various media [23].…”

“…Discussion forums are increasingly available and utilized in the delivery of university level courses but such modes of delivery can place significant time demands on academics [21]. [14] stated that participants in the online forum can be constrained by incessant power outage; time factor based on tight schedule, limited access to computers and internet, and cost of access to computers and the Internet. Also, online learners face challenges such as lack of contact with peers, limited sense of belonging to the learning community, and frustration about receiving delayed feedback to postings while teachers with existing heavy workloads face the added pressure of more actively engaging students through discussion forums [19].…”

“…The findings of a study by [7] shows that the perceived richness of online discussion forum has significant positive effect on student participation, interaction, and learning, when used along with traditional classroom lecture. [14] opined that the practice of using online discussion forum to deepen students" knowledge of course is prominent in universities in Europe, America, Asia, and Southern Africa. The use of online resources expand the opportunities for students to reflect upon their thinking and experience the discourse with other students and instructor, and it individualizes their learning experience facilitating development of deep level learning and "new knowledge structures [15,7].…”

Exploring Students’ Engagement Patterns in SPOC Forums and their Association with Course Performance

“…Goldberg et al (2015) explored that completers engaged in significantly more discussion posts than non-completers across all levels of education in a MOOC, but this study only investigated total number of postings instead of fine-grained engagement behaviors like asking questions, expressing opinions, etc. To obtain in-depth insight on engagement patterns, Tella & Isah (2011) designed a questionnaire to identify four prominent types of engagement behaviors in a university discussion forum, such as questioning, reaction posting, sharing of personal opinion and experiences and brainstorming. Cerezo et al (2016) extracted some engagement variables such as active time spent in forums and problem-solving tasks, as well as number of words in posts to represent students' performance in course forums.…”