Let’s Communicate Virtually
Jeannie Beda
Grand Canyon University: UNV 501
March 3 , 2015

Let’s Communicate Virtually
The authors explored the importance of online interaction and the effects of productivity of participants in online courses. There is a further look at the role of the read-only students and their engagement in the virtual learning community(Nigel, Blignaut & Cronje,2009,38).The case study conducted involved observation and research of postgraduate online course participation. Thus, the guiding question of the search was how did the participation and involvement in a learning community coincide with the success of the learning process(Nigel et al.,2009).
Methods
The frame of reference for the study was an 8 week online class of graduate level students that were enrolled in a technology infused education course. The course work consisted of practical and analytical application that dealt with eight online learning topics. Students were to research and post responses to the discussion forum each week. Parallel to the posting, students had to create artifacts that utilized theory. The data produced from the students’ experiences with online participation and learning was documented in many formats. The formats included were private blogs for reflection and self-assessment, open paragraph questions included in a online quiz, reflective essay, feedback questions via email to the students.(Nigel et al.,2009, p.41).
After the course concluded students were given feedback on their participation in the case study(Nigel et al.,2009).
Findings
The findings from the research indicate the the high performing learners participated the most in discussion. Students of average ability levels posted responses that were not as relevant to the discussion which in turn supports the ideas that quantity of post does not represent the student participation.