The Impact of Different Instructor Participation Approaches in Asynchronous Online Discussions on Student Performance

Jiarui Xie; Mimi Adjei; Ana-Paula Correia

doi:10.24059/olj.v28i4.4573

Authors

Jiarui Xie The Ohio State University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3201-6782
Mimi Adjei The Ohio State University
Ana-Paula Correia The Ohio State University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0806-7835

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v28i4.4573

Keywords:

asynchronous online discussion, instructor participation approach, student performance, content analysis, social network analysis

Abstract

Instructor participation plays a crucial role in asynchronous online discussions, with the approach taken potentially impacting student performance. This study compared two instructor participation approaches: replying to student posts on public discussion boards and commenting on student posts on private grade pages. It examined the impact on both the quantity of student participation and the quality of student posts. The findings revealed that students had more interactions with each other when the instructor replied on discussion boards than when the instructor commented on grade pages, despite both approaches leading to an interconnected social network. The number of student posts and the overall quality of student posts did not show a significant difference between the two approaches. Nonetheless, both approaches contributed to a gradual improvement in the quality of student posts over time. Additionally, when the instructor commented on grade pages, students gradually focused more on knowledge construction in their posts rather than social communication.

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