The article I chose surveys 56 collegiate students in order to find correlations between motivation and the effectiveness of online discussion boards. It is important to note that the form of discussion researched are not through the use of tools such as Eluminate or any other form of synchronous resource. The study focuses on asynchronous platforms such as message boards. Another asynchronous medium would be our blogs from class.
The study was an extensive survey that measured students’ intrinsic motivations along five vector: Enjoyment, Value, Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness. Each of these vectors was measured along three intervals of time to chart the progression of motivation through the duration of the course. With the exception of Competence, all vectors diminished in motivation as time progressed. Competence increased with time, but not by a large margin. This is telling that the majority of students surveyed began the course competent with the asynchronous tools and it can most likely be inferred that the tools do not have a great deal of depth to them as students’ competence did not increase significantly. Of the five vectors, autonomy had the lowest motivation score. This is appropriate as the discussion board was required by the instructor and thus students did not feel a sense of ownership over their involvement. The remaining three vectors all saw declines in motivation; however, it is important to note that the value seen in the exercise remained high throughout the course.
Relatedness, meaning the connection students felt to each other and the course, saw the largest decline in motivation. This is intriguing because to me the ability for students to connect with one another in an a synchronous course is perhaps the most difficult task to accomplish and would seem to be the number one reason for utilizing a tool such as a discussion board. The present pedagogical changes surrounding schools becoming more learning-centric as opposed to information-centric pose a stratification in the direction of enrollment. Studies show that discussion, interdisciplinary analysis, and other more communicative approaches to learning are beneficial to students; however, more and more students are moving to online enrollment which effectively slashes the ability for instructors to leverage these new findings. So the question becomes: How do we continue to implement these shifts in teaching practices with the spread of distance learning?
The second portion of the study involved interviews with students and the instructor. This allowed the researchers to debrief students on their experiences at the culmination of the course. The findings saw a growing stratification in the student base as indicated by the rise of standard deviation as time progressed in all categories. This was reinforced through the interviews where the researchers saw a clear delineation between “motivated” and “unmotivated” students. Those students who held a high intrinsic motivation saw much more value and merit in the asynchronous online discussions. They cited joy in being able to connect with other students, pose questions to the class, and partake in more circular learning. Conversely, those who had low intrinsic motivational scores often responded with negative comments such as, “I don’t see what the purpose of it is honestly.” The separation of two groups is cause for concern. Through our readings of Bain we discussed the ability of the best teachers to reach out to ALL their students and not just the advanced ones.
Lastly, the instructor was interviewed. He had mostly positive feedback regarding the study. He cited the added value of being able to converse with his students more readily and also being able to judge a students’ understanding of the course material through the quality of their postings. The one downfall of this implementation is the time investment. The instructor claimed to have read over 2000 messages throughout the course and posted over 500 replies. This is an enormous time investment and must be taken seriously when considering the implementation of asynchronous online discussions.
Xie, K., Durrington, V., & Yen, L. L. (2011). Relationship between Students Motivation and their Participation in Asynchronous Online Discussions . MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching , 7(1), 17-29. Retrieved April 3, 2011, from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol7no1/xie_0311.pdf
I have participated in class Blackboard discussion groups several times in the last few years. Only one professor had the discussions be required for the course. She posted websites and articles for us each week, and then asked us to comment on the readings and on each other’s posts. I found the exercise enjoyable, but the amount of time these tasks took in addition to homework, textbook reading, and class time was too much. Blackboard is available as a tool in most of my classes, but other professors do not utilize it except for the students to submit their assignments and as a place to post powerpoints and the syllabus. I think a great opportunity for interaction is being missed. Most students I’ve talked to subscribe to the point of view of “What’s the purpose?” Oh well.