Facilitating Online Learning: Students’ Online Discussion Strategies for a Project Work at a Technical University in Malaysia

Abstract

The use of online discussion forum is slowly penetrating into classroom teaching and learning as studies have proven that it contributes to a positive learning environment, provided that learners and educators know how to use it effectively. In order to know how to use the online discussion forum effectively, this study was conducted. The research objective was to identify the online discussion strategies employed by the participants. This case study involved fifteen 2 nd semester Engineering Technology Malaysian undergraduates enrolled in "Professional English 1" course. Data were gathered from a focus group interview, individual interview and participants' reflective notes. Five participants volunteered to be interviewed individually and the remainder express their interest to be interviewed in a focus group interview. The participants were interviewed immediately after their online discussion activities. The participants were also asked to reflect to their opinions on their online discussion experience after each online discussion activities. These findings indicate that participants employed three online discussion strategies to facilitate their project work, namely: 1) devising and coordinating ideas before posting 2) interpreting others' responses before posting their ideas online, and 3) ratifying their own statements before posting. These strategies were employed by the participants to complete a proposal for a Community Service Responsibility (CSR) project. It is hoped that these findings could provide insights and create awareness among the lecturers on the strategies employed by the participants so that more effective and meaningful online discussions could be carried out.

Issues on the Use of Online Learning: An Exploratory Study Among University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Online learning is used for delivering information, while the database system is used for managing, communicating content, interacting or facilitating teaching and learning activities [8]. Several benefits of using online learning were found, such as flexibility in scheduling and lower costs compared to offline learning [9], increasing students' sociability, confidence and participatory qualities [10] and improving the quality of projects and information sharing [8].…”

“…Moreover, online learning improves student accessibility and encourages a higher rate of completion [13,14]. In addition, the purpose of adopting online learning is to complement traditional methods of manual presentation and face-to-face interaction, which is useful to both learners and teachers [9].…”

“…Numerous studies on online learning in Malaysia have touched on its use by both students and teachers. In general, studies have discussed the implementation of online learning by 18 public universities [15], investigated the usefulness and effectiveness of online learning in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) [6], investigated students' online discussion strategies pertaining to project work at the Technical University of Malaysia [9], reasons for getting involved in online learning at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) [11] and factors that influence students' acceptance of online learning in teaching institutions in Malaysia [16].…”

“…DeLone and Mclean's Information System's Success Model has been adopted to measure the system, information, service qualities, facilitating conditions, and individual technical skills that impact online learning [22,28]. There are other models that can be used for assessing online learning among users, such as the E-learning Maturity Model [29], E-learning's Critical Success Factors Model [9], and the Technology Acceptance Model [30]. The extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) theory is used to illustrate predictors such as expected performance, hedonic motivation, habit and trust are significant when predicting behavioural intention.…”

EFL Teacher Blended Professional Training: A Review of Learners’ Online and Traditional Learning Interactions Quality

“…Several scholars have developed numerous instruments to assess interaction qualities for both traditional classroom and online learning (Johnson, Aragon, Shaik, & Palma-Rivas, 2000;Marks, Sibley, & Arbaugh, 2005;Musa, Hussin, & Ho, 2019;Nandi, Hamilton, & Harland, 2012;Omar, Amir, & Mohamad, 2018;Pakarinen et al, 2010;Pianta et al, 2008;Sher, 2009). Johnson et al (2000), for example, classified perception of interaction into five different domains, namely student interactions, student instructor, course structure, instructor support, and departmental support.…”