Interaction in online postgraduate learning: what makes a good forum?

Figures & data

Figure 1. Student responses to multiple choice feedback questions about their experience of the forums: the percentage of 193 respondents who agreed with each statement (black), disagreed with each statement (grey), or neither agreed or disagreed (diagonal stripes).

Figure 2. Themes within the category of student context and (in quotation marks) examples of interview and feedback responses representative of each.

Figure 3. Themes within the category of design and control and (in quotation marks) examples of the interview and feedback responses representative of each.

Figure 4. Themes within the category of student experience and (in quotation marks) examples of interview and feedback responses representative of each.

Figure 5. Relationships between categories (grey ovals) and themes (white rectangles) drawn from analysis of data.

Figure 6. How to design a good forum.

Table

Mark	Content summary	Content (75%)	Interaction summary	Interaction (25%)
90–100	An exceptional set of posts that is excellent in every way	Posts will be lucid, very well-organized, accurate and incisive, with a strong element of originality. They will be reflective of the student’s opinions and supported by appropriate evidence, accompanied by further reading. Posts will be concise and within the suggested word limit.	Very frequent interaction with a good number of posts.	Interaction is regular & frequent with more than the four required posts. Posts are a good mix of original and responsive. The student engages thoughtfully with other posts.
80–89	An outstanding set of posts	Posts will show insight and originality and be well-organized and accurate. They will be reflective of student’s opinions and supported by appropriate evidence and further reading. Posts will be concise and within the suggested word limit.	Very frequent interaction with a good number of posts.	Interaction is regular & frequent and more than the 4 required posts may be provided. Posts are a mix of original and responsive. The student engages thoughtfully with other posts.
70–79	A comprehensive set of posts that is excellent in most respects	Posts will show insight and originality and be well-organized and mainly accurate. They will be reflective of student’s opinions and supported by appropriate evidence/examples with some evidence of further reading beyond the course materials. Posts will be within the word limit.	Frequent interaction with a good number of posts.	Interaction is regular & frequent and more than the 4 required posts may be provided. Posts are a mix of original and responsive. The student engages thoughtfully with other posts.
60–69	A good set of posts	Posts will show some insight and originality and be adequately-organized but maybe slightly repetitive of prior posts. They will be reflective of student’s opinions and supported by evidence but with limited further reading. They will show adequate organization and the meaning will be reasonably clear. Posts may slightly exceed the word limit yet still be concise.	Frequent interaction with a good number of posts.	Interaction is fairly frequent and will provide the 4 required posts. Posts are a mix of original and responsive, although the ratio may be unbalanced. The student engages with other posts.
50–59	An adequate set of posts	Posts may reflect the student’s opinion but largely restate prior postings with only minor new contributions. Supporting evidence will be inadequate and there will be little or no further reading. The organization has several problems, which may obscure its meaning. Posts exceed the suggested word limit and lack conciseness.	Regular interaction with the required number of posts.	Interaction will be reasonably regular with the 4 required posts provided. Posts will be mostly either responsive or original. The student will sometimes engage with other posts.
40–49	A weak and deficient set of posts	Posts are a restatement of prior postings with no new contributions and without suitable evidence/examples. They are irrelevant and only state facts. The organization of the posts has several problems and errors, such that the meaning is unclear. The post will far exceed the word limit or may be extremely short.	Sporadic interaction with the required quantity of posts.	Interaction may be sporadic but will supply the 4 required posts. Posts are mostly either responsive or original. The student rarely engages with other posts.
30–39	A poor set of posts	Posts are a restatement of prior postings with no new contributions and without suitable evidence/examples. The posts contain extensive errors and the organization will be largely unsatisfactory, such that the post is difficult to understand. The post will far exceed the word limit or may be extremely short.	Sporadic interaction with fewer than the required number of posts.	Interaction is sporadic and the minimum 4 posts may not be delivered. The student rarely initiates discussion nor respond coherently to other posts.
20–29	A very poor and insubstantial set of posts	Posts are a restatement of prior postings with no new contributions and without suitable evidence/examples. The posts will be poorly organized and presented and there will be serious omissions, errors or misinterpretation of information. The post will far exceed the word limit or may be extremely short.	Infrequent interaction with fewer than the required number of posts.	Interaction is infrequent and the minimum 4 posts are not delivered. Posts often repeat previous information and no attempt is made to engage with other posts.
10–19	An exceptionally poor set of posts	No new contributions and without suitable evidence/examples. The posts will be poorly organized and presented and there will be serious omissions, errors or misinterpretation of information.	Very infrequent interaction and fewer than the required number of posts.	Interaction is infrequent and the minimum 4 posts are not delivered. Posts often repeat previous information, are off topic and no attempt is made to engage with other posts.

Table

Theme Title	Description
Asynchronicity	Challenge of not being able to interact naturally as people are posting at different times or are at different stages of working through the module. Preference for interaction to be achieved live if considered important
Awareness	Students are not always aware of changes to marking criteria or forum rules until/unless they emerge in feedback - this may undermine efficacy of changes to these structural aspects to improve forums
Confidence	Confidence can affect both the content of what some students post, and the format (concerns about appearance and style). Confidence can be an issue for students who see that others have more experience, and because contributions to the forums remain for everyone to see and can't be removed or easily edited, and interaction is not spontaneous but is drawn out over time. Confidence can increase with familiarity with what is expected and when students see others post in less formal ways. Other types of student are not shy in general, or are reassured by the format and the fact that they will not meet their peers
Consistency	Students may not be clear about changes made in the structure of a module (versus earlier modules) and this can cause issues
Context	This theme operated at different levels and in different ways. The nature/weight of wider commitments appeared to affect engagement in and approach to forums, and students sometimes chose the modules because they could be fitted around those other commitments. There were also practical challenges relating to time zones. External pressures might not only be time related but also include things like health issues, which might distract students and affect engagement. The extent to which wider (work/social) knowledge (ability to respond easily) and aims (feeling of engaging in something in line with wider goals) aligned with the module were also mentioned in relation to ease and level of engagement with forums. Within modules, context was important to the forums in terms of the alignment of forum topics with the focus of other assignments and tasks, and with the timing of those other aspects of the module. Students were sometimes supported in engagement by joining modules with friends or partners. Context also provides motives for engagement (or non-engagement) including if students are searching for a job, seeking a qualification etc.
Engagement with others	Some aspects of this theme related to students not finding value in interactions with other students and being reluctant to engage, while others appreciated the exchange of perspectives. Others enjoyed the interaction and felt it made them feel more involved - in one case wanting to be able to chat informally more - but sometimes enjoying interactions was mentioned in opposition to time spent on other module tasks. The form of engagement - politeness and etiquette - was one aspect of engagement raised by some.
Familiarity	Students getting used to forums over time can increase confidence and engagement and lead to experienced students leading the way in forums and thus helping new students engage. They can also come to better understand how the forums work - therefore, familiarity does not necessarily lead to formulaic, target focused responses
Freedom	At one level, this theme focuses on students choosing online modules because they can be fitted around wider work, and undertaken without travel - thus the students are looking for freedom to learn on their own terms. Some thought that forums would be better with fewer rules around referencing, to allow a more natural conversation. A lack of freedom characterized issues relating to tight deadlines, the wording of questions (in which focus and constraint were two sides of the same coin). Restrictions were seen to force input but also alter the nature of engagement, toward tick box (“target focus”) approaches. In contrast, broader, more general questions and longer forums were viewed as increasing potential interactions, as well as adding new questions to refresh discussion and provide the freedom to answer on new topics. Freedom in posting can be restricted by uncertainty around the rules and a lack of time forcing a focus on submitting just those needed for assessment
Interdependence	Students recognized interdependence in how forums worked, in terms of the amount and timing of posts, the nature of posts (closing down or opening up discussions) and the range of opinions (agreement by everyone might reduce dialog). If few people posted interaction could be hard work, but successful engagement by only two or three students was reported - can still be positive, although type of value might change. The level of engagement by students can be reinforcing - initial engagement spurs new inputs, while initial lack of engagement discourages others - so there can be feedbacks in how interactions develop. Whether people use the threads in a clear way can become an issue over longer forums, and it can be time-consuming to identify posts suitable to respond to. Experienced students can take the lead and spur positively reinforcing engagement.
Learning value	Many students perceived that the forums were set up to enable interaction, learning from each other and critical thinking, and some also said they had gained these things. Only a few comments focused on assessment as a key aim, and other themes highlighted constraints in terms of interaction that the forums do not overcome.
Motives of students	If students are focused on outcomes (such as networking opportunities or grades) they may not see the purpose of forum engagement if their preferred outcomes are not perceived to be aligned with the outcomes they see the forums as delivering. Such perspectives are close to “target focus” which can be reinforced if structure limits freedom in the process of engagement. Students focused on personal study may see interaction as a barrier to their own learning process - so they are motivated by process as well as outcome, but don't value the forums as much in terms of learning efficacy.
Previous experience	Students had a diverse range of experience in education, including online courses. In some cases this colored their view of online learning, and practice on previous courses was a yardstick to measure the modules. Information given about practice elsewhere by students demonstrated the potential to access these experiences to inform module development, in addition to feedback on our own modules.
Staff-student interaction	This theme included a flow of interactions from the text instructions in Welcome packs through to the wording of questions, intervention in forums, and direct engagement with the lecturer. Lack of clarity in text and questions was viewed as problematic. Questions that were too focused, and detailed instruction could close down forum debate, while general encouragement could open it up. Questions were viewed by some as important to focusing forums (versus open debates across a whole topic). Direct engagement (e.g. on calls) providing guidance was viewed as positive for forum discussions. Students’ views suggested sensitivity of forums to all these forms of staff intervention.
Stress	Arising from the length of time forum posts take in the “context” of needing to complete other assignments. This can be added to if issues of “confidence” force students to spend even longer on their forum posts and is heightened by “timing” of forum hand-ins alongside other assignment deadlines, as well as by detailed structural rules that must be met
Structure	Students often focused on the structure of forums (word counts, rules, short forums) and lecturer interactions through feedback and instructions were sometimes seen to reinforce that focus, constraining engagement and making contributions time consuming. Lack of clarity alongside detailed structural instructions was highlighted by some. Some respondents suggested assessing only on engagement (not content) to enhance interaction. Structural aspects were seen as important though - questions focusing debate, preventing long posts stimulating responses not possible with long standalone contributions.
Target focus	Students focus on the low weighting of marks for the forums, which makes the amount of work seem excessive - this is in contrast to thinking about the (ungraded) learning process going on as they undertake that work. This focus may arise from lecturer focus on structure rather than content in marking and instructions, or from issues of “timing” that create a choice between forum and other assignment engagement. A target focus can cause people to skip tasks and learning not directly associated with marked assignments
Platform suitability	Changes to platform that affect engagement such as the removal of the potential to edit or delete posts, or limits to the platform (such as visibility of new posts in the forum.
Technical context	Students having difficulties with the compatibility of module software with their browsers, devices, and referencing software. These issues can alter levels of engagement and create barriers. An aspect to look into further, is how this problem may be increasing as more people have their own IT set-ups and these proliferate - online learning is no longer encountering students who are a technological 'blank slate' to be populated by the learning provider's own platform, but have tailored systems of their own that must be adapted to
Time and pressure	Particular impact of context which means students' time feels limited - this includes the context of other assignments which clash with the time students feel they can spend on the forums. Such pressures (within and outside the course) lead to last minute and rushed posts. Time pressure and the flexibility of distance learning seemed to be part of students' choice to take these modules, but was still an issue.
Timing	When forums are longer, this can provide more space for interaction despite asynchronicity, and helps students engage around other commitments. When forum assignments are aligned with other assignments, this can undermine participation - students start to think of the relative rewards of engaging in forums versus working on their assignments, becoming more target focused and spending less time on forum interactions
Type of student	Often students are older and do not miss the social interaction of face-to-face teaching. They vary in their level of forum engagement, some prefer immersion in a big block of work rather than engaging in a series of small forum tasks - these personality links require more investigation. Type of student (and other impacts on engagement) viewed as driving the success of forums, which can be successful with as few as two students if they want to engage.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.