An Analysis on the Course-based Study Forums: Students’ Perspective

1. An Analysis on the Course-based Study Forums: Students’ Perspective By Feng Xue BeiwaiOnline

2. Contents • Background • Rationale • Research methods • Research findings • Discussion • Conclusion

3. BACKGROUND

4. Study Forums • Essential part of online education • Unsatisfactory participation • Research purpose • To identify reasons for low participation • To improve forum participation

5. Low participation at the course-based forums

6. Post shares

7. Research settings • Two course-based study forums • New online learners in their first term • Available in two ways: • Forum • Tutorial

8. RATIONALE

9. Features of Forums • More emotional than academic • Process rather than result

10. Influential Factors • Importance of the course • Learners’ habit of communicating online • Learners’ interest in the topics • Learners’time management

11. RESEARCH METHOD

12. Research Design a. 37valid anonymous questionnaires retrieved through SurveyMonkey b. 8expressed their opinions on the forum, real name (5 of the above learners did a & b) c. 0 emailed d.67(from 3 classes) answered paper-based questionnaires

13. Research Design Research points: • How the learners made use of the course-based forums • The reasons for their frequent / infrequent use of the forum

14. Data Description Structure of the online questionnaire: • Questions 1，2and 3about participation in course-based study forum • Questions 4，5，6，7and 10about suggestions or observations on the forum study activities

15. RESEARCH FINDINGS

16. Frequency of forum visit -1 • Once a day : 30.6 • Twice a week : 19.4% • < once a fortnight : 19.4% • Twice a day : 13.9% • Once a week : 8.3% • Once a fortnight: 5.6% • Many times a day: 2.8%

17. Frequency of forum visit -2

18. Frequency of forum visit -3 • 22out of the 37 could participate in one form or another • Raising questions • Answering other learners’ questions • Giving comments • Giving support • 15 of them have never put up a post

19. Result of the paper-based survey-1 • 1.5%think the course-based forums are highly helpful for their studies • 23.1% think the course-based forums are helpful • 14.9% seldom come to the course-based forums • 15.4% have never been to the course-based forums

20. Result of the paper-based survey-2 • Unaware of this form of communication（10.7%） • Not used to this form of communication（40%） • Unable to use the forums because of time constraint or limited Internet accessibility（48%） Learners’ s explanation for their low participation：

21. Other Discoveries From the online questionnaire

22. Values of the forums 1. I like the good English articles and the reading guide introduced here. (2) The forums provide an opportunity to publish learners’ free writings and the writers can exchange comments. (3) 2. I can come here to find answers to my questions when I am studying on my own.(3) 3. Responsible, encouraging and prompt moderation. (6) 4. The forums broaden our view and enhance our learning interest. The forum has become the motivating factor in my course study.(3) 5. It is a good platform to communicate with other learners in English.(2)

23. For improvement • 1. The course study forums are not placed at an advantageous location. More propaganda (such as pop-up ads or phone messages) is needed to let more students know about their existence and to keep reminding them of the activities here. (3) • 2. Some students tend to discuss personal issues on the forums, and they should be deleted. The very personal comments impress the new comers as an enclosed social circle and hinder their further involvement.(2) • 3. I think some students’ command of English doesn't qualify them to revise other students’ articles. They shouldn’t be encouraged to give more comments. (1)

24. Suggestions 1. More explanation to the texts should be provided, especially to the common problems in the textbook exercises, assignments and examinations. (5) 2. Some grammar and vocabulary teaching can be carried out in the forums. We’re not strong in grammar and it’s hard to understand the grammar books. (2) 3. The forums are not attractive enough in form. I hope to find more exciting and lively forms of activities in the forums. (1) 4. Some listening and speaking activities can be added to the forums. (1)

25. DISCUSSION

26. Silent viewers • Silent viewers exist in most of the frequency groups.

27. Correlation between frequency of forum visit and post numbers：

28. Forum Visits • Correlation • Forum visiting frequency with possibilities of being inactive (complete silent viewers)

30. Reasons • Reasons for visiting but not posting are almost the same for different kinds of participants. • Therefore , it is safe to summarise the reasons as a whole (in the order of significance):

31. Reasons for silence

32. Result of the paper-based survey Learners’ s explanation for their low participation： • Unaware of this form of communication（10.7%） • Not used to this form of communication（40%） • Unable to use the forums because of time constraint or limited Internet accessibility（45%）

33. CONCLUSION

34. General Conclusion • Very helpful to a fraction of learners • Not well accepted by the majority of new online learners

35. General Conclusion Reasons for non-/low participation: Unawareness Reluctance in learning habit change Time constraint Technical difficulties Lack of topics Lack of confidence

36. Implications • We should: • More effective promotion • Guidance in adaptation • Guidance in time management • More encouraging and involving

37. Thank you!

38. APPENDICES

39. SurveyMonkey result presentation

40. Backdrops: - These are full sized backdrops, just scale them up! - Can be Copy-Pasted out of Templates for use anywhere! www.animationfactory.com