Online Graduate Students' Preferences of Discussion Modality: Does Gender Matter?

Audio/video discussion has been used increasingly in online courses due to its affordances in enhancing online communication. However, whether learners of different characteristics can benefit from this discussion modality has not been investigated extensively. This study examined whether gender pla...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of online learning and teaching Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 31
Main Authors Ching, Yu-Hui, Hsu, Yu-Chang
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Long Beach Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) 01.03.2015
Subjects
Affordances
Attrition (Research Studies)
Audiovisual communications
Bulletin Boards
Communication
Communities of Practice
Community Relations
Correlation
Distance Education
Educational Environment
Educational Experience
Educational Technology
Electronic Learning
Females
Gender Differences
Graduate Students
Higher Education
Independent Study
Instructional design
Learning Experience
Literature Reviews
Males
Online Courses
Online instruction
Periodicals
Preferences
Singing
Student participation
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Summary:Audio/video discussion has been used increasingly in online courses due to its affordances in enhancing online communication. However, whether learners of different characteristics can benefit from this discussion modality has not been investigated extensively. This study examined whether gender plays a role in learners' preferences and perceptions of audio/video discussion as compared to text discussion. The survey data of thirty-six participants' perceptions were collected and studied after they participated in an audio/video discussion activity. The findings show that females preferred audio/video discussion more than males did, and more females reported that audio/video discussion strengthened their connection with peers. The top three benefits of audio/video discussion perceived by females and males are presented in this paper. Overall, using audio/video discussion to augment online communication and to connect learners is likely to be more effective and perceived more positively by female students than male students. The findings in this study could provide implications for sound pedagogical decisions that satisfy student preferences.
ISSN:1558-9528