Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) resolved the ambivalence of computers in favor of potentials aligned with organizational and pedagogical features of distance education. This "coding" of educational computing confirmed critical appraisals that identified computers with commercialization, commodification, and deskilling. But where…

The current study describes the development of a content analysis coding scheme to examine transcripts of online asynchronous discussion groups in higher education. The theoretical framework comprises the theories regarding knowledge construction in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) based on a sociocultural perspective. The coding…

With the rapid advancements of technology, online communication in both K-12 and post-secondary instruction has been widely implemented. Instructors as well as researchers have used various frameworks to evaluate different aspects of online discussions' quality. The online discussions take place synchronously or asynchronously in chat rooms,…

This study explored patterns of e-moderating behaviour students performed when they were assigned as peer moderators of asynchronous online discussions in a reciprocal manner. Eighty-four students from an undergraduate blended course were observed during a 7-week-long online discussions. Using quantitative content analysis peer moderators'…

The current paper reports an empirical study of asynchronous online group review of argumentative essays among nine English as foreign language (EFL) Arab university learners joining English in their first, second, and third years at the institution. In investigating online interactions, commenting patterns, and how the students facilitate text…

This case study examines the differences in comments offered by asynchronous online writing center consultants to L1 and L2 speakers and examines the potential disconnects in consultant perceptions of their practice. The researchers collected and coded sample papers and interviewed participants to contextualize data from the quantitative portion…

Online classroom discussion is ubiquitous in higher education today, with both online and hybrid courses. As a result, tools need to be created that enable an in-depth assessment of this medium, thereby facilitating the establishment and support of best practices in education. Such an assessment requires tools for consistent, efficient analysis of…

The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of scripted roles on students' level of cognitive presence in asynchronous online threaded discussions. A quantitative content analysis was used to investigate: (1) what level of cognitive presence is achieved by students' assigned roles in asynchronous online discussions; (2) differences…

Understanding the relationship between social presence and critical thinking is useful for gaining insight into the interaction and discourse of learners online. Further study of how these two presences interact is important because research has shown a wide variety of relationships, both positive and negative, between social presence and critical…

This research project explores the effects of altering the structure of discussion board formats to increase students' engagement and participation. This paper will present the findings of a two-university, two-class research project in which asynchronous discussion board entries were analyzed for substance. By using oral discourse analysis…

In this paper, we investigate whether trainee teachers' practices, with respect to multimodal feedback, differ from current research, and to what extent it may affect students' language development. More specifically, the goal of the present study is threefold: (1) it observes how trainee teachers responded, whether synchronously, asynchronously,…

The goal of this study was to develop a classification for a range of discourse patterns that occur in text-based asynchronous discussion forums, and that can aid in the distinction of three modes of discourse: knowledge sharing, knowledge construction, and knowledge building. The dataset was taken from Knowledge Forum® databases in the Knowledge…

This case study examined student preference for delivery mode of online courses in two graduate degree programs in Library and Information Science. Within-group and between-groups comparisons indicated a distinct preference across the institutions. Findings from focus groups conducted with two cohorts of students enrolled in a federally funded…

The current study explored the interaction patterns of a cohort of international students in a Professional Doctorate of Higher Education program (EdD) in order to establish the extent to which (if at all) the cohort evolved into an authentic online learning community. Phase 1 of the study consisted of a retrospective audit of three out of the…

The ability to work in groups across time and space has become a frequent requirement for the workplace and is increasingly common in higher education, but there is a surprising lack of research on how online groups work. This research applies analytic approaches used in studies of face-to-face classroom "talk" to multiple groups in two…