The evaluation of online courses

Abstract Given the special characteristics of online courses, their quantitative/qualitative evaluation calls for the adoption of specific procedures to assess both the learning process and the participant performance. This paper seeks to shed light on the aspects and issues involved in the evaluation of online courses, focusing on the peculiarities that distinguish such evaluation from that of traditional distance education. Subsequently, a methodological approach will be proposed that was developed and tested during evaluation of online courses for in‐service teacher training and for training of staff in small and medium‐sized enterprises.     

A distributed learning model for Freshwater Ecology practical classes

Abstract This paper describes a case study where a distributed learning model was used to enhance the traditional teaching of a freshwater ecology practical class by providing students with a student-centred constructivist environment. Prior to the practical session, a website was created and students were encouraged to think about the morphological adaptations of stream organisms. They were then divided into groups and taken to a real stream to collect specimens and bring them back to the laboratory for further examination and discussion. After the practical, each student group was required to produce a web page concerning the adaptations of the stream organisms to answer a set of online tutorial questions, and to participate in web-based discussion. Feedback by questionnaire showed that the great majority of students enjoyed working with the website and found the content very useful. More than half of the students preferred this type of web-assisted, student-centred practical to conventional practicals, while about a third showed no special preference between the two approaches.     

A thematic analysis of patient communication in Parkinson’s disease online support group discussion forums

Online support groups have become a popular source of information, advice and support for individuals living with a range of health conditions. However, research has not commonly focused on patients living with Parkinson’s disease and their use of online support groups. Thus, the aim of this study was to gain an insight into the positive and negative aspects of online communication through an analysis of messages exchanged within Parkinson’s disease discussion forums. Data was collected from four forums and analysed using data-driven thematic analysis. The results revealed that participation in the forums allowed patients to share experiences and knowledge, form friendships, as well as helping them cope with the challenges of living with Parkinson’s disease. Conversely, a lack of replies, the experience of Parkinson’s disease symptoms, a lack of personal information, fragility of online relationships, misunderstandings and disagreements, all appeared to compromise the online experience. Practical implications and future research recommendations are proposed.     

When to jump in: The role of the instructor in online discussion forums

As asynchronous discussion forums become more prevalent in online and flexible-delivery modes of teaching, understanding the role that instructors play in student learning in these forums becomes an important issue. Whether the instructor chooses to lead discussions or to keep a low profile can affect student participation in surprising ways. In this study, we investigate how instructor participation rates, the timing of instructor postings (during or at the end of a forum) and nature of their postings (questions, answers or a mix of the two) relate to student participation and perception.     

First do no harm: Cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence for the impact of individual suicidality on the use of online health forums and support groups

Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, especially among the young. This study aims to disentangle the presumed causality between the use of online health forums or support groups and suicidality using a representative telephone survey and a two-wave online panel survey containing the same question wording. Cross-sectional data show positive correlations between suicidality and online health forum use, but not limited to the younger. Using longitudinal panel data and autoregressive models, a positive cross-lagged effect of suicidality on internet-based health forum use one month later was revealed. Despite the wide-spread notion that online health forums can increase suicidality the present study provides evidence for the preventive potential of accessible and helpful information online.     

Guidelines for distance education: a case study in Taiwan

Abstract  Through a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews with the teachers, students and staff involved, this paper presents a case study which describes the current status of telecommunications distance education via real-time interactive videoconferencing in Taiwan. Participants' views were analysed and showed that instructional development components, such as learner characteristics, instructional resources, support services and rehearsal, are quite different from the traditional mode especially with regard to neglected factors such as educational administration and policy. The paper summarises the findings as an itemised list of guidelines for operating instructional development for a telecommunications distance education. These guidelines can contribute not only to improving the quality of distance education, but also to faculty development, staff training, elaboration of theory and professional practice in the field.     

Toward a Complexity of Online Learning: Learners in Online First-Year Writing

In response to the growing presence of online first-year writing courses, this paper describes a case study of two online first-year writing courses and addresses the questions: What do students in an online first-year writing course perceive as good study habits, and what helps them succeed? Data includes surveys, online discussions, course management statistics, and selected interviews. The study is supported by social cognitive theory described by psychologist Albert Bandura; this methodology allows for examination of internal, external, and behavioral characteristics of participating students. Results of the study indicate that students who rated themselves as making good use of study time also succeeded in the course. Insights from students include information about study activities, management of study time, access to technology, and attitudes about online courses. A surprising result of the study was that students did not consider communication with peers as a productive study activity, despite a deliberate attempt by instructors to build peer interaction into the course. Yet students also reported high levels of engagement and positive attitudes about online learning. The social cognitive lens provides helpful insights about these complex findings by examining the external, internal, and behavioral aspects of online first-year writing students in this study.     

Towards effective online review systems in the Chinese context: A cross-cultural empirical study

Online reviews, as one kind of quality indicator of products or service, are becoming increasingly important in influencing purchase decisions of prospective consumers on electronic commerce websites. With the fast growth of the Chinese e-commerce industry, it is thus indispensable to design effective online review systems for e-commerce websites in the Chinese context, by taking into account cultural factors. In this paper, we conduct two empirical studies on online reviews. Firstly, we study how culture differences across countries (i.e., China and the USA) impact the way in which consumers provide online reviews. Secondly, we investigate the impact of online reviews on product sales in the Chinese context, and show that directly copying the ideas of successful online review systems in the USA will deteriorate the effectiveness of the systems in China. Finally, we propose several suggestions for the development of effective online review systems in the Chinese context based on the results of our two empirical studies and the findings in previous studies.     

Integrating ICT into second language education in a vocational high school

Abstract This study investigated the potential impacts of integrating the Internet into an English as a second language class in a vocational senior high school in Taiwan. Twenty-nine students and a young male English teacher were involved. It was found that the students overall had a positive perception toward using Internet tools. This study indicated that the integration of information communication technology on the Internet with English facilitated the creation of a virtual environment that transformed learning from a traditional passive experience to one of discovery, exploration, and excitement in a less stressful setting. The study revealed that a computer-mediated communication environment could lower students' psychological barriers to enable them to express their opinions freely and to communicate actively on the Internet and that it could also enhance their critical thinking, problem-solving and communication skills through online activities or class homepage construction. An individual case study further revealed that a task-oriented English tutoring strategy in association with email communication could motivate the student's writing competence but the student's language proficiency and grammatical accuracy did not improve. Finally, based on the findings, recommendations for future studies are made.     

Development, content, process and outcome of an online peer supervision group for counselor trainees

This study investigated the development, content, process, and outcome of an online peer supervision group (OPSG) for counselor trainees. Outcome measures determined that participants felt comfortable, confident, and open to using the OPSG. In addition, counselor trainees reported a preference for using aliases online to foster more sharing. In terms of content, topics in the group focused on mostly professional identity (40.1%) and therapeutic techniques (22.5%). A discourse analysis of the group revealed a high percentage of messages were experiential self-disclosure (40.0%) and guidance (20.0%). Our findings indicate that the components and content found in supervision groups, and in group process more generally, can take place in OPSGs. The role of computers in psychological training is discussed.     

Using discussion logic in analyzing online group discussions: A text mining approach

We propose a Discussion Logic-based Text Analytics (DiLTA) framework, which combines theories developed in social science and text mining fields. The framework extracts features that uncover discussion logic and uses these features in analyzing online discussions. A series of models are proposed including conversation disentanglement, coherence analysis, and visualization. Validation experiments showed that DiLTA achieved significantly superior performance over existing text analytics methods in reconstructing internal structure. A case study using DiLTA-enabled visualization on a healthcare forum illustrates the great potential of DiLTA in assisting comprehension of the internal linkage, structure, and logic of online group discussions.     

The impact of hierarchical positions on the type of communication within online Communities of Learning

Communities of Learning (CoL) have been suggested to facilitate the learning process among participants of online trainings. Yet, previous studies often detached participants from the social context in which learning took place. The present study addresses this shortcoming by providing empirical evidence from 25 CoL of a global organization, where 249 staff members from different hierarchical positions engaged into collaborative learning via asynchronous discussion forums. We conduct a longitudinal study on the type of communication within these CoL, as well as participants' network positions, in order to investigate the research question: What is the impact of individual's hierarchical positions on the type of communication within CoL? Our results indicate that the higher participants' hierarchical position, the higher their amount of social and cognitive communication, which in turn was also positively related to their network position within CoL. We also identified a sub-group of Stars that outperformed their colleagues and who were at the center of CoL, irrespective of their hierarchical positions. Consequently, we propose design and facilitation strategies to practitioners and organizers of future CoL that can foster the learning processes and outcomes of all participants. Additionally, we consider future research avenues that could be explored further.     

Looking for trouble: A multilevel analysis of disagreeable contacts in online social networks

Identifying characteristics of troublemakers in online social networks, those contacts who violate norms via disagreeable or unsociable behaviour, is vital for supporting preventative strategies for undesirable, psychologically damaging online interactions. To date characterising troublemakers has relied on self-reports focused on the network holder, largely overlooking the role of network friends. In the present study, information was obtained on 5113 network contacts from 52 UK-based Facebook users (age range 13–45; 75% female) using digitally derived data and in-depth network surveys. Participants rated their contacts in terms of online disagreement, relational closeness and interaction patterns. Characteristics of online troublemakers were explored using binary logistic multilevel analysis. Instances of online disagreement were most apparent in the networks of emerging adults (19–21 years). Contacts were more likely to be identified as online troublemakers if they were well connected within the network. Rates of offline and Facebook exchanges interacted such that contacts known well offline but with low rates of Facebook communication were more likely to be identified as troublemakers. This may indicate that users were harbouring known troublemakers in a bid to preserve offline relationships and reputational status. Implications are discussed in terms of an individual's susceptibility to undesirable encounters online.     

Packet-level traffic analysis of online games from the genre characteristics perspective

Recent online games exert increasing impact on network traffic. While considerable research efforts have been placed on the study of game network traffic, most studies examine either only a small sample of games or games within a specific genre. This paper aims to utilize extensive resources of all notable research studies on online game traffic published over the last decade, and obtain a critical understanding of traffic pattern from game genre perspective. A general classification will be given according to game genres in order to highlight the characteristics pertaining to different game types. Network traffic studies for various game genres will be analyzed individually in the packet level, i.e. interarrival time and packet size. Having highlighted the current research gaps on game network traffic study, this paper will also provide suggestions on areas worthy of future research. The research outcomes from previous studies, despite having some minor discrepancies, have evidenced major commonalities that offer consistent perspectives of online game traffic. These results can be correlated as a guide for general traffic modeling for each game genre that depicts the characteristics of network traffic trends.     

Nurturing health-related online support groups: Exploring the experiences of patient moderators

The aim of this study was to examine the views of moderators across a diverse and geographically broad range of online support groups about their moderator experiences and to explore both the personal benefits as well as challenges involved. Thirty-three patient moderators completed an online questionnaire which included a series of open-ended questions. Thematic analysis identified three themes: emergence, empowerment, nurturing. Several moderators declared their own diagnosis and for some, being able to share personal insights motivated them to establish the group and in turn offered validation. They felt empowered by helping others and learned more about the condition through accessing the “communal brain”. Some felt the group aided patients’ access to health services and their ability to communicate with health professionals while others worried about them becoming over-dependent. Moderators described needing to nurture their group to ensure it offered a safe space for members. Clear rules of engagement, trust, organisation skills, compassion and kindness were considered essential. Patient moderated online support groups can be successfully developed and facilitated and can be empowering for both the group member and moderator alike.     

Knowledge hoarding and user acceptance of online discussion board systems in eLearning: A case study

This paper aims to reveal the determinants of the effectiveness of online discussion board systems (ODBSs) in eLearning environments to foster the interactions among the learners and/or instructors. A case in which an ODBS failed to foster the interactions among learners/instructors for knowledge sharing is introduced and hypotheses to explain the failure are developed based on thorough literature review in technology acceptance model (TAM) and knowledge hoarding. The hypotheses are tested via statistical analysis on the data collected from a questionnaire survey against the students who actually involved in the case study. The result shows that the low perceived usefulness of the ODBS by the students played major role in the failure of the system. Also it is hinted that network externalities as an intrinsic motivator is more effective than extrinsic motivators to increase the students’ activities on the ODBS. Finally the paper provides the designers of eLearning systems with advice for successful operation of ODBS in eLearning.     

Collaborative argumentation and justifications: A statistical discourse analysis of online discussions

As justifications (such as evidence or explanations) are central to productive argumentation, this study examines how the discourse moves of students engaged in collaborative learning are related to their justifications during computer mediated communication (CMC). Twenty-four students posted 131 messages on Knowledge Forum, an online collaborative learning environment. These messages were coded and analyzed with a multiple outcome, multilevel logit, vector autoregression. When students disagreed or made claims, they were more likely to use evidence. After a student made an alternative claim, the next student posting a message was less likely to use evidence. When students made claims, disagreed, disagreed with other’s justifications, or read more messages, they were more likely to use explanations. Boys were more likely than girls to make new claims. Together, these results suggest that discourse moves and sequences are linked to justifications on online forums.     

Social metacognition and the creation of correct,new ideas: A statistical discourse analysis of online mathematics discussions

During asynchronous, online mathematics discussions, new ideas and justifications (knowledge content) and evaluations and invitations to participate (social metacognition) can influence the likelihood of a correct, new idea (CNI) in the current message. Using statistical discourse analysis, we modeled 894 messages by 183 participants on 60 high school mathematics topics on a mathematics problem solving website not connected to any class or school. Results showed that CNIs, justifications, and social metacognition (correct evaluations and questions) in recent messages increased the likelihood of a CNI in the current message. Meanwhile, more experienced participants (who had posted more messages on the website) had more CNIs, and participants who initiated topics had fewer CNIs. Applied to practice, these results suggest that teachers can facilitate students’ creation of CNIs by encouraging them to justify their ideas, evaluate one another’s ideas carefully, and ask questions during online mathematics discussions.     

Synchronous online conference-based instruction: A study of whiteboard interactions and student writing

This paper describes a small-scale, empirical study of synchronous conference-based online writing instruction (OWI) using an electronic whiteboard in a professional tutorial setting. Linguistic analysis of participant talk indicated that the interactions were both idea-development focused and task oriented as opposed to socially oriented. The interactions often consisted of detailed dialogue wherein participants used primarily declarative language to give each other information about the writing under development and its processes. However, nearly half of the talk was oriented toward achieving interpersonal connections, facilitating the interaction, and communicating about the whiteboard's workspace. Textual analysis of the drafted student writing subsequent to the instructional interactions indicated that nearly two thirds of the interactions could be connected through iterability or presupposition with the writing and revisions. Most of the traceable writing and revision changes were meaning-preserving in nature and of insignificant to moderate rhetorical force. Such writing and revision changes were generated by students or online instructors or through shared interaction, demonstrating a highly collaborative process. Based on these findings, implications emerge for online instructor training, for student preparation to use whiteboard platforms, and for future research into synchronous conference-based OWI.     

Cybercrime detection in online communications: The experimental case of cyberbullying detection in the Twitter network

The popularity of online social networks has created massive social communication among their users and this leads to a huge amount of user-generated communication data. In recent years, Cyberbullying has grown into a major problem with the growth of online communication and social media. Cyberbullying has been recognized recently as a serious national health issue among online social network users and developing an efficient detection model holds tremendous practical significance. In this paper, we have proposed set of unique features derived from Twitter; network, activity, user, and tweet content, based on these feature, we developed a supervised machine learning solution for detecting cyberbullying in the Twitter. An evaluation demonstrates that our developed detection model based on our proposed features, achieved results with an area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve of 0.943 and an f-measure of 0.936. These results indicate that the proposed model based on these features provides a feasible solution to detecting Cyberbullying in online communication environments. Finally, we compare result obtained using our proposed features with the result obtained from two baseline features. The comparison outcomes show the significance of the proposed features.