"My Devil's Advocate Question Is . . .": Participant Orientation to Assigned Roles in Asynchronous Online Discussions

• In Event: In Quest of a Better Understanding of Online Participation and Interaction

Abstract

For online-only classes the organization of forum discussions is of great pedagogical concern, as they may be the only opportunity participants have to develop understanding of course content. This study examines the use of a common discussion strategy, assigning roles, from a conversation analytic perspective to ask how the participants themselves orient to such assignments. It was found that the discussion roles allowed the participants to develop a “participation framework” from which to design their posts, and to distance themselves from the content of the posts themselves when particularly controversial claims were made within the posts. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

Author

• Amber N. Warren, University of Nevada - Reno