THE ROLE OF ONLINE DISCUSSION BOARDS IN PERCEIVED AND ACTUAL STUDENT LEARNING

Although technology-based activities, specifically discussion boards, are widely used in education (Pollack, 2003), research on the effectiveness of these activities is minimal. There is a limited amount of empirical research that links the use of technology as a learning tool to actual student performance. The objective of our study was to fill the gap through an investigation of the relationship between the use of technology (a discussion board) and actual, and perceived, learning. Findings suggest that the elements of a discussion board (post and reply) are not equally effective in promoting perceived and/or actual learning. The act of creating intial posts impacted learning to a greater degree. Elements of time and whole class participation attributed to both perceived and actual learning within this activity. Reply posts had little impact on perceived learning, and negatively effected actual learning assessed.