Introverts Speaking Out: Introverts in Online and In-Class Discussions

1. Introverts Speaking Out: Introverts in Online and In-Class Discussions Alina Richardson Spring Hill College

2. Class Participation • Participating in class discussions is beneficial to a student’s learning (Jalongo, Twiest, Gerlack, & Skoner, 1998). • Promotes collaborative learning and leads to better understanding of the material • Only 10% of students choose to participate during in-class discussions (Jalongo et al., 1998). • Students who are able to communicate their thoughts quickly are rewarded, while students who are more reflective and prefer to take time before responding often miss the opportunity for recognition (Litz, 2003 as cited in Mello, 2010).

3. Personality and Participation • Students with higher levels of extraversion tend to participate more in in-class discussions (Anitsal et al., 2010; Murberg, 2010; Nelson, 2010) • Introverts struggle in discussions because they are more reflective in nature and are less assertive than Extraverts (Anitsal et al., 2010; Rim, 1977)

4. Introverts • Introverts prefer to reflect and develop their ideas prior to commenting, suggesting that introverts may require extra time to respond in a discussion and are more reflective learners (Russell, 2002). • There is supplementary time in online discussions to reflect prior to contributing (Anitsal et al., 2010; Baglione & Nastanski, 2007; Russell, 2002).

5. Present Study • The present study focuses on student participation, satisfaction, and comfort in in-class discussions compared to asynchronous online discussions • Asynchronous online discussions are a format in which the instructor or a student can post a question or a topic to the entire group and allow for personal-paced responses • Allows students additional time to develop a complete thought and carefully construct responses to their peers and instructors

6. Research Questions • Are Introverts more Reflective Learners than Extraverts? • Will Introverts participate more in an online discussion than they would in an in-class discussion? • Will Introverts express higher levels of comfort and satisfaction in online discussions than in in-class discussions? • Will Reflective Learners express higher levels of comfort and satisfaction in online discussions than in in-class discussions?

7. Participants • Participants were recruited from Spring Hill College courses and from Facebook • Approximately 280 Participants • Three did not complete the survey and were excluded • Approximately 125 participants never participated in an asynchronous online discussion and were excluded from most of the analyses • There were 58 males and 213 females (Two did not identify their gender) • Ages 18-55 (M= 21.73) • Approximately 175 participants were Spring Hill College students • The remaining were students from other universities

8. Materials and Procedures • Data was collected using self-reports • Online questionnaire • Five to ten minutes to complete • Consisted of four scales: • Online Experience Questions • Satisfaction, Participation, and Comfort in Online vs. In-class Discussions • Active/Reflective Learners Scale • Introversion Scale

9. Online Experience Questions • Asked general questions about the participant’s experience in an online discussion • “Was participation in the discussion required?” • “Did the instructor participate in the discussion?” • There was also an open-ended question allowing participants to provide any additional comments they may have on their online experience

10. Online Vs. In-Class Discussion Questions • Consisted of eight items in which the participant chose “online discussions” or “in-class discussions” to complete a sentence to make it relevant to their experiences • “I feel more comfortable voicing my opinions during (online discussions/in-class discussions)” • “Overall, I participate more during (online discussions/in-class discussions)” • “I prefer participating in (online discussions/in-class discussions)” • Intended to measuresatisfaction, participation, and comfort between the two forms of discussions

11. Active/Reflective Learners Scale • Intended to determine the learning styles of the participants (i.e., whether they were active or reflective learners) • Comprised of questions from the Index of Learning Styles (Felder & Soloman, 1994) • Consists of 11 sentence completion items • “I understand something better after I (try it out/think it through)” • “I more easily remember (something I have done/something I have thought a lot about)” • “When I am learning something new, it helps me to (talk about it/think about it)”

12. Introversion Scale • Consisted of items from an extraversion-introversion scale created by McCroskey (1995), who pulled items from Eysenck’s work on extraversion-introversion (1970; 1971) • Consists of 12 statements, in which the participant indicated how much he or she agrees with each on a Likert-type scale • “I am inclined to keep in the background on social occasions” • “I usually take the initiative in making new friends” • “I think that having a daily routine is a comfortable way to get things done”

13. Research Question #1: Are Introverts more reflective learners than Extraverts? Levels of Introversion were positively correlated with whether a participant was a Reflective Learner. • One-way between-groups analysis of variance • Participants were divided into three groups according to their score on the Index of Learning Styles • Group 1: Active Learners • Group 2: Neutral • Group 3: Reflective Learners • There was a statistically significant difference at the p < .05 level in Introversion Scale scores for the three groups: F (2, 270) = 36.3, p = .00. • Group 1 (M = 2.32, SD = .47) • Group 2 (M = 2.61, SD = .52) • Group 3 (M = 2.97, SD = .55)

14. Research Question #2: Will Introverts participate more in an online discussion? • There were no statistically significant differences between levels of Introversion and whether participants participated more in an online discussion or an in-class discussion.

15. Research Question #3: Will Introverts express higher levels of comfort and satisfaction in online discussions? • There were no significant differences between levels of Introversion and satisfaction in either online or in-class discussion • There was a statistically significant difference for levels of introversion and levels of comfort for the item: “I feel more comfortable voicing my opinions during (online discussions/in-class discussions)” • Chi-square test for independence • χ2 (1, n = 149)= 5.66, p = .02, phi = -.21.

16. Research Question #3: Will introverts express higher levels of comfort and satisfaction in online discussions?

17. Research Question #4: Will Reflective Learners express higher levels of comfort and satisfaction in online discussions? • There were no significant differences for satisfaction • Reflective Learners were more likely to express greater comfort in online discussions than in in-class discussions • Chi-square test for independence • χ2 (1, n = 129) = 9.34, p = .00, phi = -.29.

18. Research Question #4: Will Reflective Learners express higher levels of comfort and satisfaction in online discussions?

19. Comments About Online Discussions  Negative comments • “I thought it could have been useful. But students more or less just posted their thoughts without reading others. Just so they could meet the minimum requirements of just starting discussion without continuing it.” • “I understand why it was used as part of the class, however the class required so much extra at home time and out of class participation I found it a frustratingtask.” • “I was mostly unimpressed with the online discussion format, mainly because some students, who could otherwise contribute well in a live discussion, struggled to express themselves fully in the written format. Others had no difficulty. I would rather be sitting in the classroom. I am a people person and I like face to face discussion. I like to raise my hand and ask questions. It's hard to get your point across online. It's not for me!”

20. Comments About Online Discussions Positive comments • “I learned much lot more than I expected. I enjoyed being able to read over the discussion posts on my own time and learning real-life experiences from my classmates, which we definitely would not have had time to talk about during class time.” • “I like it, it’s a way to communicate without the fear of the classroom” • “I liked that it allowed me to voice my opinion in a thought out paragraph form rather than just on a whim in class.” • “Much more productive that any classroom discussion I have ever had-- Easier to get an idea of everyone's thought process b/c people were more likely to elaborate on why they were posting a particular answer. With it being online, you're not straining to hear what someone else has to say and there are no interruptions so the conversation is more focused.”

21. Limitations of The Study • There were no previously published scales on online experiences, therefore measures were constructed for the purpose of this study • These scales may not have accurately captured certain constructs (i.e., participation and satisfaction) • There was not enough variance on the online vs. in-class scales • Small sample size, which resulted in little variance overall

22. Future Directions • These findings could be applied to classes by possibly incorporating both online and in-class discussions to benefit varying personality types • Future studies could use more developed measures to examine the same variables

23. Acknowledgements • I would like to thank Dr. Franco-Zamudio, members of my Research Experience class (especially Abby Berger), Dr. Royce Simpson, and my research assistants: Courtney Gibson and Emily Martin!