Undistancing the Distant Learner: What Activities Promote Online Student Engagement?

• In Event: 52.084 - Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: 52.084-11 - Students' Perceptions, Outcomes, Online Engagement, and Satisfaction

Abstract

In this case study of online student participation in the discussion board of a distance course in translation, we analysed student interventions using two lenses: a macro- or whole-course level using the Community of Inquiry model, and at a micro- or task level using the Activity Theory framework. The goal was to determine which components of online assignments led to greater student participation. While the macro-analysis indicated that students were in fact engaged in both the cognitive and teaching presences, the micro-analysis indicated that, at least in this case, the most important component of an online assignment was what we have termed ‘richness’, the number of psychological tools or schemas that the student must invoke to complete the task.

Authors

• Michael Lindsley Hoover, McGill University

• Egan Valentine, Universite du Quebec a Trois Rivieres