4 Types of Student Behaviors in Online Discussion Forums (Part 2)

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In Part 1 of this series, I talked about the behaviors I observed from my students in my weekly discussion forums. I identified four behaviors of my online students, namely - leaders, reactors, lurkers and slackers. So, as I ponder my students' behaviors online, I ask the question: Why do they behave this way? I used to think that student behavior in my online forums was mostly determined by their personalities. From my dissertation research and research "in the classroom", I've found that student behavior online has more to do with their motivation than with their offline personalities.  For instance, many of my "leader" students have told me that they are really shy in person. So, what makes them assume the "leader" behavior in the discussion forums?  Interesting.  I've continually looked at what motivates my students to participate in my courses (in particular, the weekly discussion forums) and how their participation affects their overall learning experience in my courses. Here's what I think. 


I think students are motivated by the answers to these questions:
"why am I taking this course?"
"what do I need to do to get this class' reward (grade, knowledge, etc.)"
"what is my return on investment for participating?"

Year after year, I've consistently found that students in my courses were getting much more than just the subject matter from them. For instance, their takeaways from my discussion forums were much deeper than I ever thought they would be. I've learned that my students are getting support, a sense of community, and deep insights from each other in exchange for their participation (time, sharing of personal and professional experiences, etc.) in my courses. This realization was a real epiphany for me in my online teaching.  Now, I realize that students' will participate in my courses if they believe that their is a considerable return on investment for participating.  This in turn, is what motivates the students. For me, this really has opened my eyes to what my role is as the course designer and facilitator in the online environment.
 
When I first started teaching online, I didn't fully grasp how much I could affect my students' overall learning experience just in how I designed course activities such as discussion forums and facilitated my online course. It wasn't until I began to see that my job was not only to leave downloads of lectures and PowerPoint slides from the textbook each week, but that my job was actually to convince students that my class was worth their investment.  I know now, that I can do this by the way I design weekly course activities, administer course assessments and provide support to students online during the semester.  I've come to recognize that these things greatly affect my students' overall learning experience in my course.

So, nowadays, my goal with my online courses is to create an environment that encourages students to invest in my courses and shows them how they will benefit from doing. For instance, I aim at convincing the "slackers" in my courses to become "leaders" in my courses.  I've found that if students feel a solid return-on-investment (ROI) from their participation online, then this will motivate them. I've found that if they participate more, their overall learning experience will be better.

The continual challenge for me is to create a supportive environment through activities, assessments and overall course administration that not only enhances student knowledge but also their motivation to invest in my classes. In doing that, I'm certain that they will have a more satisfying learning experience in my course. 


Questions:

What online behaviors have you observed from your students?
Are they different from what I've listed?
How do you motivate your students to invest more in your online courses?

Related articles I recommend 
* Creating Engaging Discussion Forums (Part 1)
* Creating Engaging Discussion Forums (Part 2)
* 8 Ways to Create Engaging Discussion Forums (Poster)
* 3 Tools for Designing Online Course Activities
 

Check out some of the research in this area
 
* Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) - this is an annual study done by the University of Texas at Austin. The 2014 findings are here. (They list some of the factors needed to ensure student success in online courses.)


*Gruenbaum, E. (2010).
Predictors of Success for Adult Online Learners: A Review of the Literature
ELearn Magazine, ACM
http://elearnmag.acm.org/featured.cfm?aid=1722023
This great article is a literature review of other research in this area. As you can see, much is known about how students succeed in online environments. I think the "putting into practice" part is still an area where teachers (esp. newer teachers) need best practices.