Enhancing the Quality of Online Discussion—Assessment Matters

Abstract

Online discussion had been proliferating on university campuses in U.S. higher education. Nevertheless, the quality of student postings had been a concern. Research showed that assessment played an important role in promoting the success of online discussion. This article reported a design-based research on designing, implementing, and investigating assessment rules in online discussion. The study was conducted in discussion-based online courses at a large urban university in the United States. Participants were graduate students who were studying for their master’s degree. The majority of the participants were currently school teachers. Student discussion postings and written reflections were collected over the time span of three semesters. Content analysis was applied in analyzing student postings. Student written reflections were analyzed to corroborate the results of the content analysis. Suggestions for the next cycle of redesign were discussed.