Is assessing online participation the only way of encouraging it?
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Here are some thoughts we put together on this question a few years ago
O'Reilly, M & Newton, D 2001 'Why interact online if it's not assessed?' in Academic Exchange Quarterly, Winter 2001, Vol 5 Issue 4, pp. 70–76
The article can be downloaded from http://epubs.scu.edu.au/tlc_pubs/25/
Hope this is useful.
Meg O'Reilly
02:06 on 16 July 2012
Comment 1 by Keely Laycock
Comment 2 by Guy Cowley
Guy Cowley
9:29am 12 April 2012
Keely -
Good question! With children we know that sweets or TV time work as an incentive. We are not children but most are "time poor". Hence we need an incentive to use our time for this purpose, which means convincing people that forums are a vital part of the learning. Certainly with the cumulative and diverse experience on H800 they have the potential to be.
Second thought is that people prefer passive learning i.e. reading posts, to active contribution - not very democratic. Perhaps contribution does not need to be assessed but a hurdle level needs to be set. TMA might require a minimum level of posting but without assessing it. Risks reducing the value of contributions but I think if people are required to commit time they would not then waste it.
Comment 3 by Christine Gardner
Christine Gardner
11:49am 13 April 2012
My view is that if the discussion is seen as relevant, then people participate anyway, whether assessed or not.
Chris (just testing to see if this comment appears!)
Comment 4 by Keely Laycock
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Keely Laycock
4:24pm 9 April 2012 (Edited 4:29pm 9 April 2012)
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