Effective online learning requires both teachers and students to move beyond traditional face-to-face and correspondence modes and adopt strategies that take advantage of the flexibility and connectivity in the virtual or online classroom. In higher education, a common approach to connectivity is the use of online discussion forums, so the design and implementation of these forums significantly impacts on students' learning experience and outcomes. The case study used a grounded theory approach to generate insights into the critical success factors that promote student learning outcomes in online discussion forums in an Australian post-graduate online course. The paper outlines the findings and presents recommendations for the effective design of online forums

McDonald, Jacquelin

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Jacquelin McDonald

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Designing and implementing online discussion forums: an Australian case study

University of Southern Queensland ePrints

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations Volume 6 Issue 5, July 2009 Table of Contents previous issue |next issue   Developing a framework for best practice in sustainable virtual campuses   Mark Stansfield, Thomas Connolly, Antonio Cartelli, Athanassios Jimoyiannis, Hugo Magalhaes, Katherine Maillet   Pages: 440-459  doi>10.1504/IJNVO.2009.027390   Despite the significant investment and growth both in Europe and globally in the development of virtual universities and virtual campuses over the last decade, there have been a number of high-profile projects and initiatives that failed to achieve ... Despite the significant investment and growth both in Europe and globally in the development of virtual universities and virtual campuses over the last decade, there have been a number of high-profile projects and initiatives that failed to achieve their intended goals. If such failures are to be avoided in the future, then it is vital that a better understanding of best practice within virtual universities and virtual campuses is achieved. This paper reports on the work of a European Commission Education Audiovisual &amp; Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) co-financed project 'Promoting Best Practice in Virtual Campuses' (PBP-VC), which is aimed at providing a deeper understanding of the key issues and success factors underlying the implementation of virtual campuses. The paper will outline a tentative model of the issues underpinning best practice in virtual campuses which covers areas that include organisational, pedagogical, technological, student&#47;user, financial and consolidation issues derived from an investigation into virtual campus projects and initiatives within Europe. The project is working towards developing a practical framework to help guide the process of creating best practice in virtual campuses, as well as raising awareness of issues and approaches to creating sustainable virtual campuses. expand   Resting in e-learning peace   Morten Flate Paulsen   Pages: 460-475  doi>10.1504/IJNVO.2009.027391   The European Megatrends project has analysed 26 major e-learning successes and ten conspicuous e-learning initiatives which did not reach targeted goals. There is much to learn from the many successful European e-learning initiatives, but ... The European Megatrends project has analysed 26 major e-learning successes and ten conspicuous e-learning initiatives which did not reach targeted goals. There is much to learn from the many successful European e-learning initiatives, but this article focuses on what we can learn from the ten discontinued initiatives that spent about &euro;150M before they were closed down after an average of four years in operation. The article presents the ten discontinued initiatives comprising four consortia, two institutional initiatives and four governmental and political initiatives. It includes a discussion on why they failed and concludes with seven recommendations that are drawn from the analyses of the ten initiatives. expand   Teaching and learning affectively within a virtual campus   Judith Molka-Danielsen, Bryan W. Carter, David Richardson, Bjorn Jaeger   Pages: 476-498  doi>10.1504/IJNVO.2009.027392   Working in a virtual world creates new opportunities available for both students and teachers and introduces new challenges to their skills and resources. In particular, virtual worlds such as Second Life (SL) offer revolutionary and innovative ... Working in a virtual world creates new opportunities available for both students and teachers and introduces new challenges to their skills and resources. In particular, virtual worlds such as Second Life (SL) offer revolutionary and innovative modes for learning. These learning spaces are referred to as Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) (Gredler, 2001; Jenkins, 2005). The guiding principle for the adoption of new VLEs by educators is that the particular features of each new Information and Communications Technology (ICT)-based tool should be used to provide specific benefits to the students' learning environments. While virtual worlds like SL are visually very rich environments where many types of stimuli and materials can be made available to students, the question is: what 'mainstream' university campus activities may be carried out completely within VLEs such as SL? We propose to explore this question and identify the potential to support teacher and learner interactions and activities within a virtual campus space of SL. expand   Online learning communities in the New 'U'   Brian Thoms, Nathan Garrett, Terry Ryan   Pages: 499-517  doi>10.1504/IJNVO.2009.027393   In an academic world largely dominated by instructor-facilitated learning environments (i.e., lecture halls and course management software), our research implements and measures the impact of a student-owned and operated virtual learning ... In an academic world largely dominated by instructor-facilitated learning environments (i.e., lecture halls and course management software), our research implements and measures the impact of a student-owned and operated virtual learning environment. Adopting an Action Design research methodology, we look to expand scholarships and build communities within our graduate school setting. More specifically, our research explores the impact of a user-defined Online Learning Community (OLC) on a group of 118 graduate students across 6 doctoral courses. Our findings reflect positively on a number of constructs, including perceived learning, social interaction and community and have provided our university with a proof-of-concept OLC, offering a valid alternative to traditional Course Management Systems (CMS). expand   Designing and implementing online discussion forums: an Australian case study   Jacquelin McDonald   Pages: 518-531  doi>10.1504/IJNVO.2009.027394   Effective online learning requires both teachers and students to move beyond traditional face-to-face and correspondence modes and adopt strategies that take advantage of the flexibility and connectivity in the virtual or online classroom. In ... Effective online learning requires both teachers and students to move beyond traditional face-to-face and correspondence modes and adopt strategies that take advantage of the flexibility and connectivity in the virtual or online classroom. In higher education, a common approach to connectivity is the use of online discussion forums, so the design and implementation of these forums significantly impacts on students' learning experience and outcomes. The case study used a grounded theory approach to generate insights into the critical success factors that promote student learning outcomes in online discussion forums in an Australian post-graduate online course. The paper outlines the findings and presents recommendations for the effective design of online forums. expand   Resource allocation strategies for the economic computational grid   Ahmad Al-Khasawneh, Mohammad Bsoul   Pages: 532-540  doi>10.1504/IJNVO.2009.027395   Economic scheduling needs to be considered for the grid computing environment, because it gives an incentive for resource providers to supply their resources. Moreover, it enforces the efficient use of resources, because the users have to pay for their ... Economic scheduling needs to be considered for the grid computing environment, because it gives an incentive for resource providers to supply their resources. Moreover, it enforces the efficient use of resources, because the users have to pay for their use. Tendering is a suitable model for grid scheduling because the users start the negotiations for finding suitable resources for executing their jobs. Furthermore, the users specify their job requirements with their requests and the resources reply with bids that are based on the cost of taking on the job and the availability of their processors. In this paper, a number of entity strategies are proposed. The entities, such as users, brokers and resources, employ tender&#47;contract-net models to negotiate the prices and deadlines. The broker's role is to act on behalf of the users. During the negotiations, the entities aim to maximise their performance, which is measured by a number of metrics. expand  

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Designing and implementing online discussion forums: an Australian case study

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