EFFECTS OF RICH-MEDIA DISCUSSION BOARDS ON STUDENT ENGAGEMENT, SOCIAL PRESENCE, AND ACHIEVEMENT IN ONLINE GRADUATE COURSES
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2018-12
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Abstract
The purpose of this dissertation was to identify if rich-media discussion boards are effective in helping students in online graduate courses develop better social presence and become more engaged with their fellow students and instructor. Additionally, the researcher sought to discover the extent to which rich-media discussion boards affect academic achievement results when compared to the use of traditional text-based discussion boards. In order to analyze and articulate any results of rich-media discussion boards of student engagement, social presence and achievement, the researcher
compared twelve graduate-level courses. Five received the rich-media discussion boards and seven received the standard text-based discussion boards for their entire course.
At the conclusion of the courses, the researcher sent out an electronic survey to all participants asking for their feedback on the use of discussion boards within their courses. The survey consisted of 25 questions and focused on two main factors: student engagement and social presence. A total of 85 (N=85) participants responded to the survey during the two weeks it was available. In addition, the researcher exported the final course grades and all the discussion board assignment grades for all the courses. In total, there were 117 student grade records used to measure student achievement. After analysis of the survey results, there was no significant difference between the rich-media discussion board courses and the traditional text-based courses with regard to social presence and student achievement. There was a significant difference between the two groups for student engagement with those in the rich-media discussion board courses showing less engagement in the areas of motivation and teacher/student interactions. After reviewing the open-ended qualitative comments in the survey, the researcher was able to identify a number of reasons why the students in the rich-media discussion board courses showed less motivation and less teacher/student interaction. Contributing factors were a lack of technical support for students, time management issues, and underutilized rich-media discussion board responses from faculty. Further studies are needed to answer the questions related to rich-media discussion boards. Future studies must take into account the contributing factors and establish parameters to address or eliminate them.