Answer me these questions three: Using online training to improve students’ oral source citations

ABSTRACT

This experimental study examines an online module designed to increase student competence in oral citation behavior using a mastery training strategy. Students in the experimental condition provided complete citations at a higher rate and provided more citation information for traditional and web-based sources compared with a control group without required training. Although subjective norms set by instructors also influence citation behavior, the general trend depicted was that students completing the required module training performed more complete citations. Implications for student learning, mastery instruction, and course assessment were considered to be generally beneficial and at minimal cost.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Carrie Oliveira for her assistance in the early development of this manuscript. We also offer special thanks to the participating faculty from the Department of Communication and Performance at East Tennessee State University for their support in conducting this experiment.

Notes on contributor

C. Wesley Buerkle, Ph.D. (Louisiana State University, 2004) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Performance at East Tennessee State University; Christopher C. Gearhart, Ph.D. (Louisiana State University, 2012) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Tarleton State University.

Notes

1 The only study of student plagiarism in the communication discipline addresses written communication (Hale, 1987).

2 Similarly, Liefeld and Herrmann’s (1990) students benefitted from computerized mastery quizzes, as did Kreiner’s (2006) use of quizzes in a self-paced online class.

3 As Belter and du Pré and others have done, mastery was operationalized in the current study as achieving 100% correct on a test or quiz of knowledge and/or ability.

4 This approach to using mastery to focus on an isolated element in preparation for other course performances has been established as a desirable strategy (Pear et al., 2011), especially in the public speaking classroom (Staton-Spicer & Bassett, 1980).

5 As will be discussed, to create quasi-experimental conditions through the balance of treatment and control groups, the faculty were to plan their class time consistently for all sections of their courses but answer any questions received in the natural course of instruction.

6 We recognize that some faculty in communication may choose to permit students to include citations for their sources on PowerPoint slides rather that state them orally, but the program from which the sample came does not rely on PowerPoint as a regular part of student presentations and, further, maintains that students should develop the skill of oral citations so as to have that choice and skill available to them in the future.

7 In support of randomized quiz questions, Lee, Nagel, and Gould (2012) found limited support for online mastery quizzes improving students’ performance, which they attributed to the fact that the questions were repeated in each attempt rather than randomized from a pool of items.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the East Tennessee State University Instructional Development Committee.