Assessing the Effectiveness of Role Assignment on Improving Students' Asynchronous Online Discussion Participation

Takingintoaccountpriorresearchsuggestingalackofstudentparticipationinonlinediscussions,this studyexaminestheinfluenceofpeermoderator(PM)roleassignmentonstudents’participationand thatoftheirpeers’participationinonlinediscussions.Eighty-fourparticipantsoperatedinamoderator role,reciprocally.Moreover,thestudyexaminesthedifferencesinthelevelofe-moderationsupports enactedbyPMsofhigh-andlow-densityonlinediscussions.Onlineparticipationwasassessedusing log filesof seven-weekdiscussionsandsocialnetworkanalysis techniques.Quantitativecontent analysiswasappliedwithonlineinteractiontranscriptsofPMsfortwogroupsofonlinediscussions. TheresultsindicatedthatstudentsinthePMrolereachedsignificantlyhigherlevelofparticipation quantityandpatternsandtheirnon-postingparticipationsignificantlyinfluencedallindicatorsof group participation. Further, high-and low-density online discussions differed significantly with regardstofrequencyofPMs’e-moderationsupports. KEywORDS Online discussions, Participation, Peer moderation, Quantitative content analysis, Social network analysis

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