Making discussion forums work Benoît Guilbaud [email protected] @benguilbaud Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
May 20, 2015
Making discussion forums work
Benoît Guilbaud [email protected]
@benguilbaud
Beno
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This work is licensed under theAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).To view a copy of this license, visit:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/deed.en_US.
Benoît Guilbaud, 2012
Beno
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Picture by pennstatelive via flickr.com
“More group work”
“I don’t know the people on my course”
“I feel isolated when I work”
Peer-feedback
Face-to-face
DistanceSocial
Sharing
Transparency
Openness
Open learning
Error correction
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Context
25 final year undergraduates (C1)
English ⇢ French translation (L1 ⇢ L2)
September 2011 - March 2012
Weekly contributions to discussion forums
18 texts18 weeks
1 hour / weekcontact time
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Weekly taskSharing part of the
homework on the forumsCommenting on one
another’s contributions
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The study
Collect student feedback on use of OADs for peer-feedback
Measure student engagement with OADs
Gauge if interactions lead to collaborative learning
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Methodology
3 feedback questionnaires assessing
expectations & satisfaction
pre / mid / post-study
quantitative + open questions
Section(2(–(Social(networking(sites(7(for!all!purposes!other!than!translation
2a.$Are$you$a$member$of$one$or$more$social$networking$sites$(Facebook,$Twitter,$Google+,$etc.)?$Which$one(s)?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2b.$If$you$answered$‘yes’$in$2a,$please$place$one$tick$per$line$in$the$following$table:
When using social networking sites (not
for translation purposes)
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Very often Always
Not applicable / don’t know
I log in to my existing member account.
I read other members’ contributions and existing discussions.
I post contributions in response to other members’ activity.
I engage in longer discussions (more than 2 posts) with other members.
When another member has a question, I try and answer it.
Using$social$media$in$an$undergraduate$translation$class$–$a$case$studyPreliminary$questionnaire$X$Benoît$Guilbaud$X$2011
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Methodology
Collection and analysis of
contributions to OADs using
Murphy’s collaboration model (2004)
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Findings
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Feedback
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Feedback
March 2012: “The platform was useful”
92%
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“I think it works really well and is easy to access.”
“Working really well - maybe we could have a similar thing on other modules.”
“It would be useful to have it for other courses.”
“Very useful.”
Feedback
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“Not enough students use it for it to be wholly effective. I think most students just
rely on the contributions of others.”
“It is just down to ourselves to make more of an effort this term, which I will attempt to do.”
Feedback
“Very useful. No improvements needed.”
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Engagement
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Contributions per week
0
13
25
38
50
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Num
ber o
f con
tribu
tions
to fo
rum
s
Week number
IdealActual
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Analysis of contributions
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Murphy’s collaboration model(2004)
Murphy’s collaboration model (2004)
A Producing shared artefacts
B Building shared goals and purposes
C Co-constructing shared perspectives and meanings
P Accommodating or reflecting the perspectives of others
I Articulating individual perspectives
S Social presence
Colla
bora
tion
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A Producing shared artefacts
B Building shared goals and purposes
C Co-constructing shared perspectives and meanings
P Accommodating or reflecting the perspectives of others
I Articulating individual perspectives
S Social presence
Colla
bora
tion
Distribution of contributions per category (% of total)
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Distribution of contributions per category (% of total)
A Producing shared artefacts 0%
B Building shared goals and purposes 0%
C Co-constructing shared perspectives and meanings 33%
P Accommodating or reflecting the perspectives of others 2%
I Articulating individual perspectives 23%
S Social presence 41%
Colla
bora
tion
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Articulating individual perspectives (I)
A
Summarising or reporting on content without reference to
the perspectives of others (S)5%B
Summarising or reporting on content without reference to
the perspectives of others (S)5%
C
Summarising or reporting on content without reference to
the perspectives of others (S)5%
P
Statement of personal opinion or beliefs making no reference
to perspectives of others (O)18%I
Statement of personal opinion or beliefs making no reference
to perspectives of others (O)18%
S
Statement of personal opinion or beliefs making no reference
to perspectives of others (O)18%
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Accommodating or reflecting the perspectives of others (P)
A Coordinating perspectives (C) 1%
B
Coordinating perspectives (C) 1%
B
Introducing new perspectives (N) 0%C Introducing new perspectives (N) 0%
P Indirectly disagreeing with challenging statements made by another participant (I) 1%
I
Indirectly disagreeing with challenging statements made by another participant (I) 1%
IDirectly disagreeing with challenging statements made by
another participant (D) 1%SDirectly disagreeing with challenging statements made by
another participant (D) 1%
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Co-constructing shared perspectives and meanings (C)
A Sharing advice (S) 0%A
Responding to questions (R) 11%B Responding to questions (R) 11%B
Provoking thought and discussion (P) 0%C Provoking thought and discussion (P) 0%
P Soliciting feedback (F) 9%PPosing rhetorical questions (Q) 0%
IPosing rhetorical questions (Q) 0%
IAsking for clarification/ elaboration (A) 10%
SAsking for clarification/ elaboration (A) 10%
S Sharing information and resources (I) 4%
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Picture by HckySo via flickr.com
Identified issues
Identified issues
Lack of a common goal
Little reference to perspectives of others
Near-absence of disagreements
50% of questions left unanswered
Near-absence of source referencing & sharing
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Other issues
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Interface
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Impact of (non)assessment
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Impact of assessment on number of contributions
Guilbaud, 2012 McNeilly & Zhok, 2012
Level: BA Level: MA
Blended learning Distance learning
Not assessed Assessed (10% of unit)
Feedback mostly positive (92%) Feedback “overwhelmingly positive”
Average no. of contributionsper student per week = 0,27
Average no. of contributionsper student per week ≃1
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Suggested model
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!Work in progress
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Suggested criteria for online collaboration
!Work in progress
© B
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Suggested criteria for online collaboration
!Work in progress
Little reference to perspectives of others
Near-absence of disagreements
Lack of a common goal
50% of questions left unanswered
Near-absence of source referencing & sharing
Add your comments and suggestions at:
!
http://bit.ly/QYIozR
I think this could be improved by...
© B
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Couros, A., 2011. Why networked learning matters. Education in a Changing Environment (ECE) 6th International Conference, Creativity and Engagement in Higher Education, 6-8 July 2011, University of Salford, Greater Manchester, UK.
McNeilly, E. & Zhok, A., 2012. The Online Discussion Board for Translation - An Undergraduate MFL Perspective for the Study of Italian and Russian. In: LLAS: 7th e-learning symposium. University of Southampton, 26-27 January 2012.
Murphy, E., 2004. Recognising and promoting collaboration in an online asynchronous discussion. In: British Journal of Educational Technology, 35(4) pp.421–431.
Wheeler, S., Yeomans, P. and Wheeler, D., 2008. The Good, the Bad and the Wiki: Evaluating Student Generated Content as a Collaborative Learning Tool. In: British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(6), pp.987-995.
Wheeler, S., 2012. Digital Pedagogy: Content is a Tyrant, Context is King. In: NAACE 2012 Annual Conference, 9 March 2012, Leicester, United Kingdom.
References