Department of Biology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292.
Marine Science Center, Northeastern University, Nahant, MA 01908.
CBE Life Sci Educ. 2024 Sep;23(3):ar34. doi: 10.1187/cbe.23-04-0062.
Discussions play a significant role in facilitating student learning through engagement with course material and promotion of critical thinking. Discussions provide space for social learning where ideas are deliberated, internalized, and knowledge is cocreated through socioemotional interactions. With the increase of internet-based and hybrid courses, there is a need to evaluate the degree to which online discussion modalities facilitate quality discussions and enhance student achievement. We assessed the effectiveness of asynchronous online discussion boards and traditional face-to-face discussions via qualitative (thematic coding and discussion network analysis) and quantitative (Bloom's taxonomy) techniques and evaluated student perceptions via precourse and postcourse surveys. We found differential strengths of the two formats. Online discussions increased response complexity, while in-person discussions fostered improved connections with course material. Themes related to sharing of personal identity, humanity and verbal immediacy were more frequent throughout in-person discussions. Survey responses suggested that a sense of community was an external motivator for preference of in-person discussions, while anxiety was a factor influencing online discussion preference. Our findings suggest that online and in-person discussions are complementary, and work in tandem to facilitate complex student thinking through online environments and social learning within the classroom.
讨论在促进学生学习方面起着重要作用，通过与课程材料的互动和促进批判性思维。讨论提供了社会学习的空间，在这个空间里，思想被审议、内化，并通过社会情感互动共同创造知识。随着基于互联网和混合课程的增加，需要评估在线讨论模式在多大程度上促进了高质量的讨论和提高了学生的成绩。我们通过定性（主题编码和讨论网络分析）和定量（布鲁姆的分类法）技术评估了异步在线讨论板和传统面对面讨论的效果，并通过课前和课后调查评估了学生的看法。我们发现这两种格式有不同的优势。在线讨论增加了回答的复杂性，而面对面讨论则促进了与课程材料的更好联系。与个人身份、人性和口头即时性相关的主题在面对面讨论中更为频繁。调查结果表明，社区感是面对面讨论偏好的外部动机，而焦虑是影响在线讨论偏好的一个因素。我们的研究结果表明，在线讨论和面对面讨论是互补的，它们通过在线环境和课堂内的社会学习共同促进学生的复杂思维。
