Engaging students with online discussion in a blended learning context: Issues and implications

Computer-mediated communication tools have been increasingly used to support face-to-face teaching. In this paper, we explore the motivating and inhibiting factors that affect students' participation in voluntary online discussions in a blended learning context. Students' online participation is conceptualized as a three-phase process: jumpstart online activity, promote interaction and sustain discussion. The results indicate that students' disengagements in online discussions were due to a number of reasons: their perceptions, peer influence, media preferences and the voluntary nature of the activity, to name but a few. Finally, we highlight several issues concerning students' participation in online discussion and their implications for designing meaningful and engaging online discussion in parallel to in-class teaching. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.link_to_subscribed_fulltex