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Evaluating the impact of online discussion boards on student engagement with group work
Author(s) -
Delaney Deborah,
Kummer TygeF.,
Singh Kishore
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
british journal of educational technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.79
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1467-8535
pISSN - 0007-1013
DOI - 10.1111/bjet.12614
Subject(s) - discussion board , psychology , online discussion , task (project management) , mathematics education , group work , contrast (vision) , relation (database) , student engagement , work (physics) , perception , computer assisted web interviewing , online learning , medical education , applied psychology , pedagogy , computer science , multimedia , world wide web , engineering , mechanical engineering , medicine , systems engineering , database , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , marketing , business
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the use of an online discussion board as an assessment item on students learning performance in relation to group work based on Social Learning Theory. The study uses survey questionnaires at the beginning and end of semester together with student grade information. The data analysis consists of (1) a regression analysis to explore the relationship between student interaction and performance and (2) a repeated measures ANOVA to explore changes in attitude and perceived encouragement. Student's perceptions at the outset were found to be important as was the use of the online discussion board as a learning tool even when it is not assessed. Further, students' attitude to the online discussion board improved through the semester however the online assessment task did not encourage domestic students to be more engaged in group‐based activities. In contrast, international students were more encouraged to participate in group‐based activities at the end of the semester. The study has implications for online group activities in education.