Assessment of online reflections: Engaging English second language (ESL) students

Abstract

Online discussion boards are being used increasingly by tertiary educators as a tool for encouraging greater student interaction and developing learning communities. In particular, educators who have adopted a learner centered, socio-constructivist approach to teaching have sought to facilitate collaborative learning in which students reflect upon and share their experiences and perspectives, and construct knowledge together through developing shared meanings. This paper presents the findings of an electronic survey of the perceptions of 70 distance education EFL and ESL students concerning a compulsory assessment item involving contribution to an online course discussion board. The study revealed that the majority of the students enjoyed the assessment item and agreed that posting to the online course discussion board had allowed them to achieve a range of cognitive and social learning outcomes, as well as to develop some important graduate skills. In particular, ESL students reported the benefits of posting to the discussion board in terms of sharing their experiences with others and reducing the feeling of isolation. Further, when considering social outcomes, ESL students perceive the discussion board provided them with an opportunity to meet and develop a closer relationship with other students in the course and encouraged them to keep up with their studies.

Use of a post-asynchronous online discussion assessment to enhance student critical thinking

“…Significant improvements in students' levels of perceived critical thinking occurred for students who had their AOD contributions assessed, as well as for those who had a post-AOD assessment. This result, linking critical thinking outcomes in an AOD with assessment, is consistent with other studies that have examined student perceptions of their learning in an AOD that included assessment (Akyol & Garrison, 2011;Arend, 2009;Birch & Volkov, 2007).…”

“…Exposure to multiple perspectives in an AOD was most frequently mentioned by students regardless of the assessment approach. This sharing and exchanging of ideas in an AOD has been cited in previous research as a major benefit of AOD (Birch & Volkov, 2007;Wu & Hiltz, 2004).…”

“…In an AOD students need to create their discussion in a written form and read their peers' postings, exposing them to diverse viewpoints and requiring them to evaluate material from multiple perspectives. They also need to make judgements about the material presented and, finally, synthesise and draw inferences before coming to their own conclusions (Birch & Volkov, 2007;Schellens & Valcke, 2006;Wu & Hiltz, 2004).…”

Blended learning using video-based blogs: Public speaking for English as a second language students

“…Some scholars indicated that blogging enables students to achieve a range of cognitive and social learning outcomes, as well as to develop reflective learning strategies (Birch & Volkov, 2007;Hourigan & Murray, 2010;Tan, Ladyshewsky & Gardner, 2010). Alm (2009) also concluded that blogging can positively affect learners' willingness to communicate by providing them with a personal space where they feel safe to express themselves and to interact with others.…”

Small Talk Versus Smart Talk: Providing Accounting Content and Emotional Support in a Distance Education Course

“…Research by a variety of scholars in the DE and ODL fields (refer Bates 2005;Birch and Volkov 2007;Garrison and Vaughan 2008) has established that students' success depends not only on the quality of the learning package, but also on the quality and scope of support given to these students. Studies have shown that motivation is important in DE courses (Rice 2006;Simonson et al 2012;Simpson 2002; and, although literature confirms that motivation is an important factor in dropout rates of students in DE and ODL institutions (Berge 2001;Perraton 2000;Simonson et al 2012), retention rates have always been lower in DE when compared to traditional face-to-face education (Simpson 2004).…”