Educational Performance of ALN via Content Analysis

Abstract

Learning in an ALN mode is modeled by a set of educational processes. The group is modeled by an abstract entity that provides services to the learners via its group educational processes. The learners reciprocate by their corresponding educational processes. Following findings of the Social Interdependence Theory of Cooperative Learning, we conjecture that the ALN is Cooperative Learning enhanced by extended think time. If ALN is structured for effective cooperation then the group dynamics will regulate the high level reasoning and the interpersonal relationships of the learners towards their highest levels.If this conjecture is found to be true, it identifies the maximization of reasoning and interpersonal relationships as one of the educational benefits of an ALN.To test the conjecture, we developed a methodology for the evaluation of the performance profiles of the ALN educational processes. Performance profiles are calculated via content analysis of the information flows exchanged between the participants, and the results are tested for reproducibility. We use this methodology to analyze three weeks of asynchronous discussions embedded in an ALN course of the Open University of Israel (OUI). The results of this analysis indicate the plausibility of our conjecture.

From Posts to Patterns: A Metric to Characterize Discussion Board Activity in Online Courses

“…The measure of quality of posts was correlated with presence of feedback. These results are not surprising, but rather provide further evidence which supports previous studies which suggest that the presence of feedback is an important factor in discussion facilitation [9,21,46] as is instructor presence [3,8,9,24,25] and structuredness [15,40].…”

“…In an online course, an asynchronous text-based discussion board may hold the added advantage of a time-lag between postings. This may lead to greater reflection and enriched discussions as compared to discussions in face-to-face settings [15,16].…”

“…Content analysis is a method of coding the content of discussion board postings and is most useful for studying patterns of interactions for research purposes. Several methods for content analysis have been presented in the literature [15,32,34,35,40,46].…”

“…Defining expectations becomes even more important in working with students who have had little or no experience with discussion board activity. Research with undergraduate students [15] suggests that taking an instructional approach to forum posting in the first learning module may help inform students of discussion expectations. This approach may also work well for adult learner populations, many of whom are returning to the academic setting after years of professional experience,…”

Essential Elements in Designing Online Discussions to Promote Cognitive Presence — A Practical Experience

“…The use of online discussions is gaining momentum in university classrooms. It is widely recognized that online discussions have the potential to cultivate and develop student higher order thinking skills [1,2,3,4,5]. However, due to inappropriate designs, many online discussions failed to achieve desired learning outcomes [6].…”