Quiet Participation: Investigating non-posting activities in online learning

Abstract

Despite the growth in online learning offerings in K-12 and higher education, limited research has been undertaken to better understand less visible online learning activities. Reading and rereading are not typically valued as important indicators of learning since number or frequency of entries, words or key phrases are usually visible and easily tracked. This paper addresses reading, writing and revisiting behaviours by cluster groups in eight online courses, and looks for patterns related to rereading. Participant perceptions of the value of rereading entries in online learning are discussed. The findings highlight the importance of a more nuanced understanding of the different roles reading and rereading play in online learning discussions. This research informs our understanding of the importance of non-posting behaviors to student learning. Instructionally, these results may encourage valuing of different “paths” to online learning success beyond the criterion of written entries.Despite the growth in online learning offerings in K-12 and higher education, limited research has been undertaken to better understand less visible online learning activities. Reading and rereading are not typically valued as important indicators of learning since number or frequency of entries, words or key phrases are usually visible and easily tracked. This paper addresses reading, writing and revisiting behaviours by cluster groups in eight online courses, and looks for patterns related to rereading. Participant perceptions of the value of rereading entries in online learning are discussed. The findings highlight the importance of a more nuanced understanding of the different roles reading and rereading play in online learning discussions. This research informs our understanding of the importance of non-posting behaviors to student learning. Instructionally, these results may encourage valuing of different “paths” to online learning success beyond the criterion of written entries.

A Design-Based Study for Development of a Model for a Successful Online Discussion Forum

“…Findings showed the need to have more platforms for delivering feedback and acknowledged the need to continually work on mentoring relationships to counteract complacency. The current study also had proposed some factors to deal with this participant that added to earlier studies which prepared guides for dealing with silent participants (Creelman, 2017, Wilton, 2018.…”

Passive Participation in Collaborative Online Learning Activities: A Scoping Review of Research in Formal School Learning Settings

“…Generally, reading itself does not necessarily equate to a lack of engagement, as students read before and after they post (Wilton, 2018;Wise et al, 2013). Indeed, reading is often an indicator of student participation and learning.…”

“…Students' non-posting behaviors were also classified into different types by analyzing and clustering students' log data such as total views and length of time viewing (Wilton, 2018;Wise et al, 2013). However, most studies grouped students' participation behaviors into several categories by taking both posting and non-posting behaviors into consideration.…”

“…However, most studies grouped students' participation behaviors into several categories by taking both posting and non-posting behaviors into consideration. For example, Wilton (2018) categorized students into three "cluster membership" groups based on their reading and writing behaviors: avid readers/prolific writers, avid readers/moderate writers, and moderate readers/moderate writers. Wise et al (2013) also identified three "cluster membership" groups by examining the patterns of students' participatory behaviors in terms of breadth, depth, temporal contiguity, and reflectivity.…”

“…Students' reading or lurking behavior-a passive form of participation-has not been investigated as frequently as has posting behavior (Wilton, 2018), even though reading inevitably must precede students' engagement with others about a given topic. This dearth of studies on passive participation is mainly because reading is difficult to observe and measure, even with access to students' log data.…”