Article Review #2

Article Title:

Learning with Technology: Using Discussion Forums to Augment a Traditional-Style Class

APA Citation:

Shana, Z. (2009). Learning with technology: Using discussion forums to augment                         a traditional-style class. Journal of Educational Technology                                                    & Society,12(3), 214-n/a.

Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1287037637?accountid=7083

Review:

This article discusses a study that was conducted in 2005 with students enrolled in a distance education course within the Educational Technology Department at Ajman University of Science and Technology, United Arab Emirates. In the study, a discussion forum was incorporated into a traditional-style class and the goal was to “examine the impact of incorporating a discussion forum on the achievement of university students”. Two groups (one control group and one treatment group) from a total of 34 students. Each group was exposed to the same course material, as well as teaching techniques and after four weeks, given the same exam. Afterwards, the treatment group was given access to the use of an online discussion forum to discuss material for the remainder of the course. While the use of technology like online discussion forums was not really new in highly developed countries, at the time of this study, the use of E-technologies for instruction in many developing countries was still quite new. As a result, the students in the study were accustomed to a “teacher-centered, traditional behaviorist stimulus-response learning model”. Researchers wanted to determine if the addition of technology that allowed for online discussion significantly increased the knowledge that students attained from the online course, as well as how it affected student attitudes. To motivate students to participate in the study, students were asked to “respond to a weekly topic in order to gain 5% for participation”. At the conclusion of the course, all students were given a final test in which steps were taken to help make the correct answers difficult to recognize unless the students truly understood the material. In addition to the test, questionnaires and interviews were also given and the final results were evaluated. Many of the students in the study supported the use of the discussion forum within the course for a variety of reasons. Some of the reasons given were that it “assisted students in developing language skills” and “reading different replies can promote new ways of thinking and help generate new ideas”. Students also stated that “more intellectual interactions and connections, lead to more possibilities of shared knowledge, understanding, thinking and reflection”. According to the interview results, a majority of the students who used the discussion forum liked the fact that it allowed for the “interacting and sharing ideas and materials with other students and with the instructor” and “taking exams online, turning-in and getting back assignments with prompt feedback and grades”. Overall, approximately 93% of the students involved in the study found the use of a discussion forum within the course to be beneficial. The participants felt that online discussions were “more comprehensive, lively, and gave a chance for all students to participate”. Ultimately, the findings indicated that students who had access to the discussion forum while completing the required coursework “showed significant learning improvement over the course of a full semester” due to their active participation.

Overall, I found this article to be quite interesting. I suppose that because I have grown up with technology being routinely integrated into my educational environment, I had not really stopped to consider how technology integration has progressed and impacted students in other areas of the world. I can agree with many of the points highlighted within this study that relate to the benefits of integrating discussion forums into online courses. The use of discussion forums exposes students to a range of different views and ideas which can promote new ways of thinking. In addition, the format can encourage shy students to increase their participation in class discussions and it extends the opportunity for classroom debates to continue outside of the allotted instruction time. In my experience using online discussion boards for my college course, I have to say that I was able to learn a great deal from the information that was shared and discussed by my fellow classmates. I believe that the incorporation of discussion forums into a tradition-style learning environment can be helpful to “reinforce skills taught/learned in a face-to-face setting” and I think that it would be something that I would like to implement within my future classroom using school appropriate technology.