Categories: Communication Design, Technology
Subject and Citations:
How much value does an asynchronous discussion bring when considering time requirements? Goldman's study sought for perceptions of both teachers and students in his study of 72 instructors and 280 learners in an MBA program at Post University in Waterbury, Connecticut. "Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and covariance/correlation analysis were employed to explore the load and value perceptions of learners and instructors as well as to present the results" (Goldman, 2012, p. 175). The results were presented in well-designed correlation matrices, charts and graphs.
The quantitative study's resulted by affirming two hypotheses, and rejecting one:
"1) Discussion did become the major engagement conduit for learners and instructors, consuming 55% and 65% of their total course hours, respectively. This was affirmed across all course levels throughout the program with the exception of the Capstone Writing course in which learners focused on developing and writing their projects.
"2) For both learners and instructors, discussion load perceptions were centered around "medium" (on a scale of "no load" to "very heavy" load) and value perceptions of learners and instructors were centered around "high" (on a scale of "no value" to "very high" value). This was affirmed for learners and instructors across all course levels throughout the program.
"3) The hypothesis that the value perception for discussion could be gauged and predicted by measuring the hours spent on discussion could not be affirmed and was rejected. No substantive associations were found for learners or instructors between hours spent and value perception for either course or discussion" (Goldman, 2012, p. 182).
The study seemed to support the idea that the value of the time necessary for asynchronous discussions was worth the engagement. The results focused on the perceptions about the time requirements and value, not the emotions and concerns of the faculty, which still appears to be a significant gap in the research.
