Search results

New information and communication technologies provide tools that help users to progress from traditional teaching methods towards new and more participative approaches consistent with collaborative learning. This study aims to assess the application of online discussion forums as a support tool for lecturing in marketing.

The authors seek to pinpoint which factors determine student use of online forums on the basis of the Technology Acceptance Model and to provide empirical evidence concerning their impact on learning performance.

The findings indicate that it is not ease of use but perceived usefulness that determines a positive attitude towards forums, an attitude which in turn influences forum use and perceived learning. Adopting a new learning system may be seen as a gradual process in which students become involved as they develop a positive attitude towards the system.

Lecturers and web developers should pay particular care not only to the layout of the web site supporting the forums, but also to their usefulness and ability to stimulate ongoing and interesting debates among students.

The findings of the study are valuable in helping lecturers and educational administrators in the application and promotion of online forums for creating knowledge through internal and interactive dialogue in a more conversational model of learning.

This study aims to examine students' perceptions of the use of asynchronous discussion forums to facilitate case‐based learning in financial accounting, measuring whether students' perceptions of the benefits of using online discussion forums are related to – and can be predicted from – students' demographic profiles. The paper commences by briefly reviewing the case study‐based learning literature, followed by an in‐depth review of the use of asynchronous discussion forums as a delivery platform. These pedagogical approaches are then linked to the emerging needs and learning styles of the current generation of “digital” students.

The study, which is questionnaire‐based, uses data collected from two New Zealand universities. A choice modelling approach is used to analyse the data in order to correlate students' preferences for online discussion forum usage with their profiles.

The findings of the study indicate that students perceive numerous benefits to be associated with case‐based online discussions, including learning from other students' opinions and perspectives, the opportunity to debate issues critically, encouragement to think independently, a heightened awareness of their communication ability and assisting them to revise prior‐held views of accounting. These findings, supported by students' comments, suggest that the use of asynchronous discussion forums has created a social discourse of learning, assisting in the construction of a community of practice in financial accounting. The choice modelling analysis of the results indicates that the students most likely to be positively disposed towards discussion groups are older, male, domestic students, who have English as a first language. Of the international student respondents, Asian students perceive the forum as being most useful.

The study provides evidence that accounting students perceive value from the use of asynchronous discussion forums. Furthermore, the choice modelling identifies which particular groups of students may benefit most from the use of online discussion forums. The findings suggest that accounting educators may gainfully employ this learning technique in their courses as a means of developing critical thinking skills, building a heightened awareness of the student's ability to communicate and enhancing overall student engagement and participation in course work.

This study examines the use of an instructional technology of utilizing the online forum as a tool for improving self‐efficacy related to cultural competency among social work graduate students. As a supplement to face‐to‐face classes, students (n=103) were encouraged to participate in an Online Diversity Forum (ODF).

Forum participants assessed their perceived level of self‐efficacy related to cultural competency knowledge, attitudes, and values by an end of semester survey.

Overall, students rated their improvements in self‐efficacy as high for most criteria studied; the largest perceived improvement was on items measuring interaction with fellow students. Two class sections (n=34) had online postings reflecting a climate of disrespect for other students and for the instructor, while the other four sections (n=69) had positive climates that had no disrespectful or inappropriate postings. Participants in the positive forums increased self‐efficacy significantly more than those in the negative climate forums.

Our findings suggest that ODF can be a useful adjunct to multicultural education when a positive climate for dialogue is created. Future research should explore ways to design and manage online forums to enhance positive learning climates while reducing negative uses that may serve as a barrier to constructive dialogue and learning.

This paper illustrates an innovative educational strategy of using ODF and evaluation research.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors affecting university students’ participation in discussion forum of electronic learning platforms of teacher–student interaction.

One-stage cluster sampling was used and a cross-sectional survey of 113 university students from four courses was done.

A combined model based on United theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and DeLone and McLean models serves as a research framework. Female and male students’ behavioral intentions were affected by different factors. System quality affects male students’ behavioral intention and information quality affects female students’ behavioral intention. Social influence affects female students’ behavioral intention but male students. Men are more focused on the hardware and women are more focused on the content of the message.

The research is limited by the nature of university students. User experience and underlying perceived risk are possible moderators. Dyad approach could be considered. One way to enhance students and teachers’ academic discussion is to establish a closed university social media site. The site should be made mobile-friendly with chatbot included.

The results support the validity of the proposed new research framework on e-learning platform by the constructs coming from two established models: UTAUT model and DeLone and McLean’s model. Factors affecting intention and use behavior in discussion forum are different for male and female students. System quality affects male students’ behavioral intention, while information quality affects female students’ behavioral intention. Social influence affects female students’ behavioral intention but not male students.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how online discussion can be used in work‐integrated learning as a vehicle for students to demonstrate their learning in the workplace and to facilitate collaborative learning where face‐to‐face classes are not feasible.

The paper evaluates the use of assessable online discussion in facilitating collaborative learning and scaffolding reflection in work placement subjects. It reviews the literature regarding the use of online discussion, particularly for work placement subjects, and evaluates the use of an online discussion forum in a case study subject in the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) undergraduate law course.

The paper suggests that assessable online discussion forums are appropriate to facilitate student collaboration and collaborative learning in work placement subjects.

The paper is original in its examination of the assessment of online discussion in a work‐integrated learning context.

Online forums are increasingly deployed as important e‐learning tools for facilitating student learning in classrooms. However, building an online forum does not guarantee participation by students. The purpose of this paper is to advance our knowledge of facilitating student participation in this context by studying the role of communication environment.

The model was tested using data collected from a survey administered in a university in Hong Kong.

Results revealed that psychological safety communication climate influenced the intention of students to continue their participation both directly and indirectly through perceived responsiveness and self‐efficacy.

This study builds on social cognitive theory and extends the existing understanding of participation in e‐learning by highlighting the roles of psychological safety communication climate and perceived responsiveness, two communication environment factors critical to student learning but not yet addressed seriously in the e‐learning context.

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of an online peer-mentoring initiative for language students at the Open University, UK. The communities of practice (CoP) model (Wenger, 2010) was used as a theoretical framework within which to explore the nature and extent of mentor and mentee participation; and the impact of the scheme on student confidence and motivation.

Within a qualitative paradigm, multi-data sources were employed to collect and analyse data. Participation was measured from analysis of online interaction, while participant views were captured through interviews, forum posts and surveys.

Findings revealed that mentors were perceived by students who used the scheme to be instrumental in building confidence and motivation. In addition, varying participation patterns indicated that students used the online learning communities to meet their differing needs during their studies. These needs involved passively reading posts as well as actively posting.

Any direct statistical correlation between student confidence and motivation and online peer mentoring was beyond the scope of this study and could be the focus of future research. Additionally, research might also explore the impact of student mentors on student participation in wider CoPs.

Practical recommendations from the study include the importance of mentor training to develop effective communication strategies and to differentiate the role from that of tutor moderators, whose remit is to respond to academic content-related queries in module-wide forums.

There is little research into the nature and impact of online peer mentoring on student motivation and confidence. This study aimed to bridge this gap.

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the evidence for the use of on‐line forums within education and their use in working with service users with mental health problems. The paper also outlines the key characteristics of the online facilitator. The authors propose that nurse education is well placed to develop students on‐line forum participation and moderation programme.

The authors reviewed the literature to assess the current evidence.

Much of the literature was international, mainly from Asia Pacific, the USA and Europe but there was limited research and position papers from the UK. The use of forums was discussed but there is a paucity of research, particularly in relation to the use of on‐line forums within mental health. The literature identifies and gives an insight into the complexities of using on‐line forums.

Research limitations: this is a systematic literature review but only English language papers were consulted. Also the authors drew on their personal experiences of working with students in an on‐line learning environment to inform this paper. Implications: educators need to develop a change in attitude with regard to the use of on‐line learning. Many are used to face‐to‐face teaching and still regard it as the most stimulating and appropriate way for knowledge development. Specific collaborative and interactive skills are considered to be desirable when engaging in on‐line forums. These have to be learned by both the moderator and the students. Mental health nurses should be encouraged to perceive the skills of forum facilitation in a positive way when engaging with service users and can add to their repertoire of skills.

The authors suggest that more research is needed within this area on on‐line forums, with particular emphasis on how student nurses engage in on‐line forums. It is felt that nurses, given proper preparation and effective training, are well placed to carry out the role. Partnership working could be developed with universities and NHS Trusts to develop Trust's staff skills and expertise in the moderation of forums, as universities have the skills and experience. However supervision would be essential for moderators to develop appropriate pedagogic tools to facilitate what is a complex process.

The authors suggest making better use of available technology and empowering the service user to take ownership of the way they engage with professionals.

This appears to be an area that is under researched and considering the increasing usage of social networking as a means of peer support, there is scope for this to be transferred to professional practice.

The purpose of this paper are twofold. First, to disclose whether accounting students who participate more in online activities proposed by the teacher achieve better learning outcomes. Second, to identify which virtual learning activities achieve improved outcomes.

Data mining is a computer-based tool devoted to analyzing massive data sources, generating information and discovering deeper knowledge and links among variables.

There were differences between universities and subjects in the association of level of activity and learning outcomes. These findings will help teachers adjust their teaching guide, schedule and explanations.

Further developments should include the level of online compromise of the lecturers, and the correspondence of the online activity with the designed activities in the teaching guide. In order to identify the value-added activities performed by the students to achieve better deep learning outcomes.

Higher Education should provide students with cognitive and transversal skills for successful incorporation into the labor market. In this sense, teaching methodology combined with online tools facilitates the process of teaching and learning with the implementation of different multimedia resources.

Recently, the impact of virtual platform usage on students’ learning outcomes has started to be analyzed using “data mining” techniques. Educational data mining is a new focus to disclose existing links among students, lecturers and its activity.

Feminist legal activists in law schools developed what we call critical community tactics beginning in the late 1960s to bring about important cultural change in the legal educational arena. These feminist activists challenged the male-dominant culture and succeeded in making law schools and legal scholarship more gender inclusive. Here, we develop the critical community tactics concept and show how these tactics produce cultural products which ultimately, as they are integrated into the broader culture, change the cultural landscape. Our work then is a study of how social movement activists can bring about cultural change. The feminist legal activists’ cultural products and the integration of them into the legal academy provide evidence of feminist legal activist success in shifting the legal institutional culture. We conclude that critical community tactics provide an important means for social movement activists to bring about cultural change, and scholars examining social movement efforts in other institutional settings may benefit from considering the role of critical community tactics.