Learning from "Listening" to Peers in Online Political Science Classes

Autor/inn/en	Hamann, Kerstin; Pollock, Philip H.; Wilson, Bruce M.
Titel	Learning from "Listening" to Peers in Online Political Science Classes
Quelle	In: Journal of Political Science Education, 5 (2009) 1, S.1-11 (11 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1551-2169
Schlagwörter	Student Behavior; Political Science; Computer Mediated Communication; Online Courses; Program Effectiveness; Virtual Classrooms; Asynchronous Communication; Alignment (Education); Audience Analysis; Audience Response; Peer Teaching; Performance Factors + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Student behaviour; Schülerverhalten; Staatslehre; Politikwissenschaft; Politische Wissenschaft; Computerkonferenz; Online course; Online-Kurs; Zuschauerverhalten; Peer group teaching; Peer Group Teaching; Leistungsindikator
Abstract	Studies of classroom behavior and learning outcomes have demonstrated that student discussion leads to better learner outcomes. Do these effects, which are based on studies of face-to-face interaction, transfer to the virtual classroom? Existing studies of online postings in asynchronous discussion forums have primarily studied the effects on the authors of the postings. The effect on the recipients--the students reading the postings--has been largely neglected. We set out to fill this gap in our understanding of online discussions by analyzing the effect of reading behavior on course performance. We first perform an in-depth analysis of student discussion behavior in two online courses. We consider the quantity and quality of student postings, as well as the number of postings read by each student. We then test our main findings using a larger dataset of 279 students from eight additional classes, controlling for student grade point average, major, class standing, race, gender, and instructor. Overall, our results suggest that reading is significantly and independently related to course performance. We conclude that discussions have an important place in online classes. (Contains 3 tables and 6 notes.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10