Encouraging Interaction Within Online Discussion

  Project Abstract In order to encourage interaction among secondary students in an online discussion space,I conducted research on how group size and mode of communication might affect different levels of interaction. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether levels of interaction between students vary online versus in a face-to-face setting. The study also evaluates prompteddiscussiontools that mayallow for more effective online interaction between students. More specifically, I sought to answer whether uptake questions and/or high-level thinking questions promoted online interaction.The data was obtained from evaluatingsix discussion methods in each of the seven classrooms. In order to evaluate the data, a research assistant was trained to analyze the interactions between students.Aconclusion was then drawn on the effectiveness of the uptake question frequency and high-level thinking question frequency methods, as well as group size, in an online discussion space.  Watch Our Interview with Brooklyn about her Project