Pedagogical Features Influencing Instructional Activities in a Discussion Board Forum

Cathryn FrielYanfei MaWanli Xing

University of MissouriSchool of Information Science and Learning Technology

IntroductionFour categories of interactions in LMS (Moore,

1989; Hillman, Willis, Gunawardena, 1994; Bouhnik & Marcus, 2006) Learner-instructor Learner-learner Learner-content Learner-system

This study was primarily interested in the fourth interaction, learner/instructor-system interaction from the instructor’s perspective. The main focus of the study is on instructor interactions with Blackboard’s discussion board.

Context

This study investigated instructors’ preferences on Blackboard discussion board features to implement instructional activities

Two different versions of the same threaded discussion board forum was used Identical discussions in each

Purpose of Study The main focus of the study was on instructor

interactions within Blackboard’s discussion board.

We identified the interaction preferences of instructors in the current discussion board in terms of existing features and instructional activities. Important features Frequent instructional activities

By comparing the old version of the discussion board forum with a newly designed forum within the same learning management system, we investigated both currently existing and newly changed features that influence instructional activities within discussion board forums.

Theoretical FrameworkInformation Foraging theory was applied to

investigate how instructors perceive existing factors in a learning management system interface (e.g., Blackboard discussion forum) to determine their preference and seeking strategies to obtain valuable information they need for assessing students’ input. (Pirolli and Card, 1999; Trespess, 2006)

Pedagogical usability guided us in our study on how the Blackboard discussion board’s existing pedagogical objectives supports instructional activities and whether or not the pedagogical objectives in the newly designed version added value as anticipated. (Nokelainen, 2006; Tervakari et al., 2002; Trepess, 2006)

Research Questions1. When engaging in instructional activities, what features in a learning management system’s discussion board are important to instructors?

1.1 What features in a discussion board tool are important to instructors?

1.2 What instructional activities in a discussion board do instructors perform most often?

1.3 What instructional activities are most difficult for instructors to perform? Why?

2. Which version of a learning management system discussion board forum does instructors prefer to use when given a rubric and asked to perform a set of instructional activities? Why?

Company Logo

MethodsQualitative Study

Survey – demographic data and prior experienceObservations Interviews

Participants Faculty and graduate instructors in the College of

EducationAll participants actively use Blackboard Discussion Board experience of participants

ranged from 6 months to over 6 years

MethodsApproach

Participants randomly placed into two groupsCounterbalanced

Data CollectionSurvey – a Qualtrics survey was emailed to

participantsObservations – observed participants navigate and

perform tasks in the two different discussion board versions

Interviews – participants were interviewed following the observations

FindingsMost important feature: easily track and respond to student posts

Most often performed activities: reading and replying to student posts

Most difficult activities: interacting with students & facilitating group discussion

Version Preference: Overall, the new version

Implications Improve DB features to make reading and reply more

convenient & accessible for instructors who now forage

Pedagogical usability needs to be assessed to promote instructor’s experience in implementing instructional activities

Add features to make facilitating group discussions easier

Discussion Board designers need to refine pedagogical objectives and adding value to support instructor-student interaction

Conclusions

Environment changed to

make finding valuable

information easier

New Discussion Board preferable• Pictures• New

threaded format

More research

needed to fully explore

design elements

that support pedagogical

usability

Questions & Discussion