TITLE:
“To Participate or Not?”: Identifying the Factors Affecting University Students’ Participation in an e-Forum
AUTHORS:
Md Yusoff Daud, Fariza Khalid, Mazalah Ahmad, Mohd Jasmy Abd Rahman, Aidah Abdul Karim
KEYWORDS:
Online Learning Group, ICT, Computer Education, e-Forum, Undergraduate Students
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.7 No.18,
December
15,
2016
ABSTRACT: Information and communication technologies (ICT), primarily computers and telecommunication networks, can be utilised as a means to cultivate thinking skills among students. Computer applications have been adapted or developed not only to facilitate critical thinking but also to help students to become reflective thinkers. In the Computer in Education (CIE) course, undergraduate students from the Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, were exposed to collaborative learning through sharing activities in an e-forum via the Weebly application. This study was conducted to investigate the factors that contributed to their participation in the e-forum, as well as the hindrances. This study involved 113 first year students who took the course. Data were generated using open-ended questions posed in one of the forum topics. The data were then analysed descriptively using thematic analysis. The overall findings indicate a numbers of contributing factors leading to students’ participation in the e-forum. Among these factors incentives are given, such as bonus marks for those who showed the highest level of engagement in the e-forum discussions. In addition, students were driven by their own individual needs, i.e. to access new ideas, expand their knowledge and share experiences. This paper also discusses factors that hindered students’ level of participation in the e-forum.