Motivating learners to participate and interact in online discussions is a challenge faced by many instructors. Despite clear
guidelines, learners do not always participate in online discussions and do not meet the expected participation criteria or requirements for
the course. Because online interactions are integral to social constructivist learning, little or no learner participation can be a barrier
to social dialogue process for knowledge building and learning. While learner participation in online discussions can be attributed to
several contextual factors, formative feedback is important to motivate learner participation and interaction. One reason why students might
not be motivated to participate could be little or no awareness of how to effectively interact in a course discussion. In this context, SNA
can be used to visualize the structure and patterns of interaction in online discussions. Such information can be used to create
self-awareness as well as an awareness of other students’ participation. This study explored if structural indicators e.g., participant
location in the discussion and relational information about their interaction with others when provided as SNA-based feedback, can motivate
learner participation and interaction in online discussion. For the purposes of providing SNA-based feedback, the study used Ego network and
two centrality measures—Degree and Eigenvector. The ego network is the neighborhood of a participant and showed direct connections with
others in the discussion network. Degree centrality was a measure of the total number of messages sent or received from different interaction
partners. Eigenvector centrality was a measure of interaction with partners who in turn, have more interaction partners. Participants with a
high centrality score are those who interact more with other participants as they send messages and receive replies. This study addressed
student reactions to the SNA-based feedback. Of particular interest was motivational reactions of students and whether they would use the
feedback to optimize their discussion participation and interaction. The two research questions that guided this study are: 1) What are
learner perceptions of the SNA-based feedback? 2) How do learners participate and interact in the course discussion before and after
receiving SNA-based feedback? The participants in the study were 10 students enrolled in a graduate level online course at a large southern
research university. The 10 participants agreed to receive feedback and complete a survey at the end of the study. Of these 10 students,
three agreed to participate in a follow-up interview. A modified version of Deci and Ryan’s (2007) Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) for
pre- and post-survey was used in the study to measure learner motivation to participate in online discussions. Scores on the Attention,
Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction subscales in a modified version of Keller’s (1987) IMMS survey were used to measure motivational
reactions of students to SNA-based feedback. Prompted interviews were conducted with the three participants who indicated willingness to
participate. The results of the IMI survey indicated that the students were motivated regarding their beliefs about online discussion.
Regarding the perceptions of the SNA-based feedback, the results of the modified IMMS survey showed three of the 10 participants with high
motivational reactions, two with low motivational reactions, and the remaining five showing medium motivational reactions regarding their
perception of the SNA-based feedback. The Contribution Index (CI) showed that four participants each received more messages than the total
number of messages sent. The remaining six participants sent more messages than the number of messages each participant received. While the
motivational reactions to SNA-based feedback did not encourage the participants to post more messages, a visible change in behavior was
noticeable in early discussion postings by the participants. Findings from this study indicate that the participants actively participated
and engaged in the discussions throughout the entire discussion week. The participants appreciated the feedback as it provided them an
opportunity to reflect on their behavior and also used to guide how they wanted to participate in the discussion. The participants also
noticed a greater sense of connectedness with the whole class after receiving SNA-based feedback. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2017. / November 13, 2017. / Includes bibliographical references. / Vanessa P. Dennen, Professor Directing Dissertation; Ulla Sypher, University Representative; James D.
Klein, Committee Member; Aubteen Darabi, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_604957 |
| Contributors | Chauhan, Amit (author), Dennen, Vanessa P., 1970- (professor directing dissertation), Sypher, Ulla (university representative), Klein, James D. (committee member), Darabi, Aubteen (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Education (degree granting college), Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems (degree granting departmentdgg) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text, doctoral thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (106 pages), computer, application/pdf |
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