Promoting Academic Online Discussion Participation

This study incorporates four identity- enhancing (IDE) features into an online forum in order to improve online discussion participation. IDE features include avatars, signatures, point systems, and rankings which are commonly found in digital games. From the prospective of sociology, communication theories, behaviorism, and metacognition, avatar and signature could enrich the static presentation of students virtual identity while point systems and rankings provide students self-monitoring clues and a digitalgame-like competitive environment. The experiment was conducted in 6 sections of one basic instructional technology course and one basic philosophy course in two Midwestern universities. The results found that forum designed with IDE features could significantly promote discussion participation and increase students sense of satisfaction. We also found that students of different experiences backgrounds have differential preference on each IDE features.

Autorentext

Assistant Professor, Deparmtent of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan. Ph.D. of InstructionalTechnology, Ohio Unviersity U.S.