An Analysis on the

Course-based Study Forums: Students’ Perspective

By Feng Xue

BeiwaiOnline

Contents

• Background

• Rationale

• Research methods

• Research findings

• Discussion

• Conclusion

BACKGROUND

Study Forums

• Essential part of online education• Unsatisfactory participation• Research purpose

– To identify reasons for low participation– To improve forum participation

Low participation at the course-based forums

　 数量该 类 型总贴量

类型贴量比重

论坛均发贴量

Course-based study 27 52336 19.54%

1938

Skill-based practice 9 126761

47.33%

14085

Emotional communication

3 36331 13.57%

12110

Administration 4 52372 19.56%

13093

Total average 6227 　　

Post shares

Research settings

• Two course-based study forums• New online learners in their first term• Available in two ways:

– Forum– Tutorial

RATIONALE

Features of Forums

• More emotional than academic• Process rather than result

Influential Factors

• Importance of the course• Learners’ habit of communicating

online• Learners’ interest in the topics• Learners’ time management

RESEARCH METHOD

Research Design

a. 37 valid anonymous questionnaires retrieved through SurveyMonkey

b. 8 expressed 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

Research Design

Research points:

• How the learners made use of the course-based forums

• The reasons for their frequent / infrequent use of the forum

Data Description

Structure of the online questionnaire:

• Questions 1 ， 2 and 3 about participation in course-based study forum

• Questions 4 ， 5 ， 6 ， 7 and 10 about suggestions or observations on the forum study activities

RESEARCH FINDINGS

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%

Frequency of forum visit -2

• 22 out 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

Frequency of forum visit -3

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

• 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 ：

Result of the paper-based survey-2

Other Discoveries

From the online questionnaire

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)

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)

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)

DISCUSSION

Silent viewers

• Silent viewers exist in most of the frequency groups.

Correlation between frequency of forum visit and post numbers：

Frequency of Forum Visit Percentage of viewers

Many times a day 0%

Every half day 0%

Once a day 18%

Once a week 67%

Twice a week 43%

Once a fortnight 50%

Less than once a fortnight 86%

N/A 100%

Forum Visits

• Correlation– Forum visiting frequency with

possibilities of being inactive (complete silent viewers)

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):

Reasons for silence

Reasons %The forum posts are valuable to me to some extent , but I have nothing to share with others ( 论坛上的内容对我有一定的价值，可我没什么可说给大家的 )

14 41%

Have got no time to reply ( 没有时间回贴 ) 9 34%

Not confident in my own language quality and afraid of being laughed at ( 自己水平太差，发贴别人会笑话 )

5 14%

Not used to communicating with teachers and peer students on the forum ( 不习惯以论坛的形式和老师同学交流 )

3 8.8%

Time consuming to reply or put up posts given the unstable Internet connection ( 上网条件不好，回贴 / 发贴太费时间 )

2 5.9%

What people put on the forum is pointless to me ( 论坛上的内容对我没有什么价值 )

1 2.9%

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% ）

CONCLUSION

General Conclusion

• Very helpful to a fraction of learners• Not well accepted by the majority of new

online learners

General Conclusion

• Reasons for non-/low participation:– Unawareness– Reluctance in learning habit change– Time constraint– Technical difficulties– Lack of topics– Lack of confidence

Implications

• We should:– More effective promotion– Guidance in adaptation– Guidance in time management– More encouraging and involving

Thank you!

APPENDICES

SurveyMonkey result presentation

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