Online discussion design on adult students' learning perceptions and patterns of online interactions

Abstract

This proposal reports a study examining the impact of the online discussion design on adult students' perceptions of online learning and their online interaction performance. Specifically, in this causal-comparative study we collected data with surveys and the content analysis of online discussion scripts to explore the learning impact of online discussion types (instructor-led versus student-led), the discussion grouping design (class-wide, group discussions, versus the integrated), and the computer-mediate communication (CMC) environment (asynchronous versus hybrid). The study indicated that the online discussions that were student-led and integrating class-wide and group forums predicted higher learning satisfaction and deeper learning for adult students.