Comparing the Impact of Two Different Designs for Online Discussion

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Advances in Web Based Learning - ICWL 2008 (ICWL 2008)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 5145))

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Abstract

This study examined the impact of two different designs of online discussion on student participation in the discussions and the type of learning that was generated. The results showed that when students were given an opportunity to respond to each other with the instructor mostly absent in the discussion process until the end of the discussions, they would visit the discussion forums more frequently. They were also more likely to pose follow-up questions for their classmates and engage in meaningful inquires. On the other hand, when the instructor posted frequently in the discussion forums, students would respond to him instead of their peers, and the discussions were seldom carried forth in much depth.

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Frederick Li Jianmin Zhao Timothy K. Shih Rynson Lau Qing Li Dennis McLeod

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© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Yao, Y. (2008). Comparing the Impact of Two Different Designs for Online Discussion. In: Li, F., Zhao, J., Shih, T.K., Lau, R., Li, Q., McLeod, D. (eds) Advances in Web Based Learning - ICWL 2008. ICWL 2008. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5145. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85033-5_36

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85033-5_36

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-85032-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-85033-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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