Exploring global online course participants’ interactions: Value of high-level engagement

Abstract

Participation in online courses has become essential for training language professionals in under-resourced contexts with skills in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) (Godwin-Jones, 2014). Most online CALL courses use asynchronous computer-mediated communication (ACMC) to facilitate meaningful learning for participants. Although participants’ sustained engagement with ACMC is the target, global realities of participants interfere with their participation levels. This article investigates participants’ engagement profiles in asynchronous online discussions in an 8-week CALL-based global online course developed and implemented by a team at Iowa State University. Using a case study approach, nine focal participants’ engagement profiles have been analyzed in terms of identifying patterns of engagement in the discussion posts and their relation to the types of discussion prompts. Then, social network analysis (SNA) and thematic analysis were employed to investigate patterns of interaction among the participants in the replies. The results indicated that engagement patterns observed in discussion posts overall aligned with the primary goals of prompt types. SNA further identified two participants as social mediators to connect participants with each other. These findings are significant in that they suggest the effectiveness of using ACMC to promote co-construction of knowledge for a global audience. This article also provides implications regarding the design of discussion prompts to help maximize participant engagement with course content.

Model of Education Technology for Language Pedagogy in Higher Education

“…Studies also looked at how virtual learning would help students learn [24][25][26][27]. EDM also was useful to generate students' papers [26] and created learning environment even for distance learners [26,28].…”

“…Provisions for learning success in higher education level are given far beyond lecturing, tutoring, and administrative support. The provision of language environment in support of academic discourse could also be predictors of learning success [26,27,28]. Language programs need to integrate varieties of genre to the syllabus, as well as opening access to corpus.…”

Effectiveness Study on Online or Blended Language Learning Based on Student Achievement: A Systematic Review of Empirical Studies

“…Content and language integrated learning approach (CLIL) in the virtual laboratory environment More positive attitude, better outcomes [121] Undergraduates in China Technology-assisted learning Significantly greater effectiveness [122] Undergraduates in China Optimized blended learning model based on SPOC Improvement [123] Postgraduates in China Learning style-based collaborative learning Outperformance [124] Graduate students in the US Asynchronous computer-mediated communication (ACMC): online discussion forums Effective [125] College students from Korea, Japan, and China Synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC): online chatting or discussion Improvement, ceiling effect [126] Persian English learners Synchronous computer-mediated communication SCMC: online chatting Effective, helpful [127] Korean and English language learners…”