This qualitative study examines how a student-generated meme activity influences adult learners' interaction in online class discussions. A multiple-case design is applied to understand how this class discussion activity facilitates online threaded interactions. This study recruited 28 adult learners from a two-section graduate-level asynchronous…

The selection and use of communication media has been the center of attention for a great number of researchers in the area of organizational communication. The channel expansion theory combines elements of the main theories in this area; however, these investigations have a static cross-sectional design rather than a longitudinal analysis. With…

This purpose of this investigation was to review the postings of candidates completing student teaching using an online discussion module. A total of 3624 on-line postings by 295 student teachers over eight semesters were examined. Postings were grouped into one of six categories (general information, teaching, students, placements, projects and…

This article reports a theory-driven experimental study that evaluates the effects of an annotation functionality on online social interaction and individual learning outcomes. The central hypothesis of this study is that directly addressing a part of a text by annotating it and then connecting each annotation with its related discussion can…

This study used a sequential set-up to investigate the consecutive effects of timing of supportive information presentation (information before vs. information during the learning task clusters) in interactive digital learning materials (IDLMs) and type of collaboration (personal discussion vs. online discussion) in computer-supported…

This study presents three case studies of students' participation patterns in an online discussion to address the gap in our current understanding of how "individuals" experience asynchronous learning environments. Cases were constructed via microanalysis of log-file data, post contents, and the evolving discussion structure. The first student was…

Non-participation and poor quality participation in online environments is often discussed in the literature. Interaction and engagement in online discussions are critical for understanding and constructing new knowledge. In this case study, we examined messages posted by graduate students in four online debates for quantity and quality. The…

Although the role of motivation has been emphasised in knowledge-sharing literature, traditional motivation theories, such as self-determination theory (SDT), have not been actively used as a research framework in knowledge-sharing research. The purposes of this study are twofold. The first objective is to propose a model, based on SDT, to test…

Rancorous dialogue among political opponents is nothing new in the American political system. However, in the past two decades or so, pundits and scholars have noted an increase in the overall intensity and frequency of incivility among elected officials and citizens. At the collegiate level, many universities have undertaken some form of civility…

A number of factors may affect student interaction in an asynchronous online discussion forum used in learning. This study deals with student preferences for the subject line of messages and in what ways the choice of subject line contributes to coherence and interaction reflected in the textual and interpersonal functions of the linguistic items…

This study examined some of the methodological approaches used by students to construct causal maps in order to determine which approaches help students understand the underlying causes and causal mechanisms in a complex system. This study tested the relationship between causal understanding (ratio of root causes correctly/incorrectly identified,…

Blogs, specifically special-interest blogs, generate in-depth discussions. These discussions offer a new window for researching emerging trends in both consumer behavior and social-political attitudes. Many people try to influence these discussions and trends via participation, but making an impact is not guaranteed. Not all comments have the same…

This study examined the overarching issue of how temporal transitions, specifically duration of message flow, affects momentum or wellness of discussion in an asynchronous forum. Quantitative data representing time indicators in discussion activity included posting patterns related to duration (density, intensity, latency, and response count),…

Facebook is a popular social networking site. It, like many other new technologies, has potential for teaching and learning because of its unique built-in functions that offer pedagogical, social and technological affordances. In this study, the Facebook group was used as a learning management system (LMS) in two courses for putting up…

In this study, positioning theory was used as a theoretical framework for analyzing facilitator presence and identity in online discussion transcripts. The study has two purposes. First, the study provides a description of naturally occurring facilitator positioning by facilitators and students in two online and two blended classes. Second, it…