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Self-direction online through structured task activity: Is online moderation

always needed?

Conference Paper · January 2002

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 Self-moderation: is it a useful strategy to encourage online
collaboration?’
Catherine McLoughlin, Australian Catholic University, Australia

Mitchell Parkes, University of New England, Australia

McLoughlin, C., & Parkes, M. (2002). ‘Self-moderation: is it a useful strategy to encourage online
collaboration?’ In P. Barker & S. Rebelsky (Eds.), Proceedings of the World Conference on
Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia (Vol. published on CD ROM- ISBN 1-880094-45-2, pp.
1293-1296). Denver: AACE.

Abstract: A great deal of research has been conducted on the roles of

online moderators and on support structures needed for successful online
collaboration and productive learning. While some research indicates the
need for highly structured environments with facilitation and tutor
support, this case study suggests that by utilising well designed inquiry
orientated tasks, students learn to self direct their own activities. In the
study presented here, the assessment of the task increased student
motivation and task based interactions indicated that supportive feedback
and social exchange was a characteristic feature of successful task
engagement.

Introduction
Online forums provide the opportunity and potential for collaborative work, dialogue and study that
can increase the flexibility of learning while motivating participants. By enabling teacher – learner and
learner – learner dialogue computer-based course systems can support the essential elements of a
learning conversation by providing scope for discussion, interaction, dialogue and reflection (Laurillard
1995). Clearly, the opportunities for learner-centred activity, flexible access and asynchronous
discussion creates new opportunities for adult learners and scope for self direction and inquiry based
learning.

Instructional designers and teachers alike must confront and envision the need for learner-centred
pedagogies and provide opportunities for learners to have control over their own learning (Doherty
1998). According to Hannafin & Land (1997) open-ended learning environments provide opportunities
for self regulated learning, collaboration learner driven inquiry and exploration. Instead of providing
direct instruction the teacher will foster expectations foster expectations for increased learner control
and knowledge generation. This study takes as its starting point the need for self directed learning and
provides an example of how a task focused environment online provides opportunities for learner self
direction

Study Context
Computers in Teaching and Learning is a one semester unit that forms part of the Bachelor of
Education and Master of Education programmes at the University of New England. It is offered online
via the Distance Education mode using WebCT software. In this unit, students explore the use and
integration into classrooms of a variety of software tools such as word processors, spreadsheets,
databases, drawing and paint programs, multimedia and the Internet.

To help achieve the objectives of the unit a number of compulsory learning activities and associated
assessment items were designed around the online tools provided by the WebCT environment. These
online activities contributed 80% of the final grade for the unit. The remaining 20% was allocated to a
paper based assessment task. Table 1. provides a description of the online assessment tasks and their
associated WebCT tools.

Table 1 Summary of Online Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Online tool Weighting

Introductory posting Bulletin Board 5%

Online summaries & discussions Bulletin Board 25%
Group WebQuest Bulletin Board, Assignment Dropbox 20%
Individual WebQuest Student Homepage 30%

Assessment tasks were designed to provide students with a range of online experiences from interacting
on bulletin boards to working collaboratively online. These tasks also modelled for students the
potential of the online environment as learning and teaching tool. As a consequence, the experience of
completing the assessment tasks helped achieve the unit’s objectives as much as the completed tasks.
Research Questions

The purpose of this study was to determine that to what degree students would moderate themselves if
provided with a task with very little organisational structure. Berge (1995) has identified four roles of
e-moderators and classified them as: Pedagogical, Social, Managerial and Technical. These roles as
used as the basis of classification for the current study. In particular the following questions were to be
investigated:
• If a task is structured to encourage self moderation is there evidence of any of these roles being
dominant over the others?
• Would any increased responsibility required for self moderation interfere with the successful
completion of the task?
• Is there any educational advantage for structuring a task to encourage self moderation?

Group WebQuest Activity

The assessment task forming the focus of this study was a group WebQuest activity.
Dodge (1995) describes a WebQuest as “an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the
information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet”. The fundamental idea
behind WebQuests is that they are designed to prevent students from aimlessly surfing on the Internet.
A well designed WebQuest will help give students structure and guidance as they use the Internet as a
tool to support their own knowledge construction.

For the group WebQuest activity, students were expected to complete a WebQuest about WebQuests
Figure 1. shows the introductory page for the WebQuest activity. This task involved students being
placed in groups of four (except one group which was reduced to two members shortly before the task
started) and each adopting one of four possible and evaluating the WebQuest using the criteria
associated with each particular role.

These roles were:

Efficiency expert Does the WebQuest keep students on task?
The Affiliator Does the WebQuest encourage collaboration?
The Altitudinist Does the WebQuest encourage higher order thinking?
The Technophile Does the WebQuest make the best possible use of the available technology?
The individual component of this assessment task involved evaluations being done by the students
within their selected roles. The collaborative activity involved students negotiating with each other via
the bulletin board tool to answer the following questions:

1. Which two of the example WebQuests listed were the best? Why?
2. Which two were the worst? Why?
3 What criteria were used to base the group decisions upon?

Figure 1. WebQuest about WebQuest Introductory Page

The lecturer gave no guidance or structure on how to complete this activity. Students were expected to
organise themselves in order to successfully complete the task. This include setting up deadlines for
individual submissions, providing advice, feedback and encouragement to each other and developing
selection criteria to identify the best and worst WebQuests.

Once completed, students had to submit their tasks via e-mail. This submission included each student’s
individual evaluations and the collective evaluations from the group. Marking was based upon a
combination of the individual and collaborative activities.

The educational objective of this task was to provide students with the opportunity to observe how the
concept of a WebQuest worked from a participant’s point of view while at the same time, gain some
exposure as to what constituted an effective WebQuest.

Methodology

Description of Coding System

Berge (1995) has identified four broad roles that e-moderators play in an online environment. These
are: pedagogical, social, managerial and technical. Bulletin Board posts from students in the Group
WebQuest assessment task were analysed and classified according to these categories. Decisions were
based on the following criteria:
• Pedagogical: Posts were classified as pedagogical if the majority of the post was directly
related to the assessment task.
• Social: These posts involved interaction primarily at the social level for example: “How is the
weather where you are?”
• Managerial: Posts that contained organisational information for instance setting up posting
times or deadlines.
• Technical: Posts that contained advice at the hardware or software level. An example would be
instructions on how to upload an attached file.

Once coded, the number of each type and the number of words per post was recorded. From this data
the average words per post was calculated.
Results

Table 2 shows the number of messages classified by role and the percentage of each to the total number
of messages posted (n = 306). The results indicate that the largest number of posts to the WebQuest
forum were managerial in nature. Posts centred on discussion of the actual activity (Pedagogical) were
the second highest, followed by social and technical respectively.

Table 2 Posts Classified According to Roles

Type of Role Number of Posts Percentage of Total Posts
Pedagogical 89 29%
Social 86 28%
Managerial 95 31%
Technical 36 12%

Total 306 100%

Table 3 provides the total number of words posted for each category and the average number of words
per post. Posts classified as Pedagogical were on the average the longest messages (average = 96
words per post). Post classified as Managerial and Technical followed next, with posts classified as
social in nature being the shortest messages on average.

Table 3 Total Words and Average Words per Post

Type of Role Total number of Words Average Words per Post
Pedagogical 8535 96
Social 1611 19
Managerial 3618 38
Technical 1188 33

Total 14952

Discussion

Due to the activity being largely student directed, it is probably not surprising that the highest number
of posts were classified as managerial in nature (n = 95, 31% of total). Students had to spend time as a
group organising themselves in order to complete the collaborative activities. However in terms of
actual word length, managerial orientated posts did not dominate the discussions with the average
length of each post being 38 words. Students were able to set up an organisational structure that did
not appear to interfere with the educational objectives of the task. In fact, as a consequence of
organising themselves, students may have been more motivated towards the task they had to undertake.

Posts classified as being pedagogical in nature were the second most extensive type of post in
numerical terms. However, the average length of these posts far exceeded any other category (96
words per post on average). This suggests students were deeply engaged in the process of
collaborating with each other in the construction of new knowledge.

Implications of the study

Despite a large percentage of social posts (n = 86, 28% of total), these were relatively short (19 words
on average) and consisted of mainly short social exchanges or pleasantries. Nipper (1989) expressed
concern that the process of social interaction online may overshadow its educational focus. However,
in this instance, this appears not to be the case. These social exchanges in the group WebQuest activity
appeared to form a “social glue” helping support group cohesiveness. Berge (1995:22) believes these
types of exchanges are necessary for the creation of an environment that will “promote high quality and
individual and social interaction for the student during the construction of knowledge”.

There were relatively few posts that were technical in nature (n = 36, 12% of total). The unit had been
in progress for several weeks before this activity so it appears that students had been given the
opportunity of becoming familiar with using the WebCT software. The exchanges were also relatively
short in nature (33 words per post on average) so it is unlikely that technical aspects had any major
impact upon the collaborative activities and the shared construction of knowledge amongst students.

Conclusion

According to (Ragoonaden & Bordeleau 2000:368)

the success of collaboration via the internet lies in the design of virtual
courses and in the embedded pedagogical model. The collaborative process
has to be an integral part of the course framework and activities based upon
constructivist approach. In this manner, students are compelled to
 communicate and to work with distant partners in order to construct new
knowledge.

Such was the case for the WebQuest activity. The deliberate lack of lecturer direction forced students
into having to take on many of the multi-faceted roles of e-moderators individually. It can be argued,
that as a consequence of this expanded role, students were more than simply participants but rather
organisers of the activity. This led to deeper levels of engagement in the task at hand. By being given
the opportunity of being able to take on the roles generally associated with e-moderators actually
enhanced the students’ ability to communicate and work with others on the successful completion of
the group WebQuest activity.

References
Berge, Z. 1995, Facilitating Computer Conferencing: Recommendations from the Field, Educational
Technology, vol 35, no.1, pp 22-30.

Dodge B 1995 (Accessed 29th November 2001) Some Thoughts About WebQuests, accessed online
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/about_webquests.html

Doherty, P.B. (1998) Learner Control in Asynchronous Learning Environments, Asynchronous

Learning Networks Magazine, vol. 2, pp 1 – 11.

Hannafin, M.J. & Land, S.M. (1997) The Foundations and Assumptions of Technology Enhanced
Student Centred Learning Environments, Instructional Science, 25, pp 167 – 202.

Laurillard, D. (1995) Multimedia and the Changing Experience of the Learner, British Journal of
Educational Technology, 26(3), pp 125 -136

Nipper, S. 1989 Third Generation Distance learning and Computer Conferencing in R Mason and A.
Kaye (eds), Mindwaeve: Communication, Computers and Distance Education, Oxford: Pergamon
Press, pp 63 - 73.

Ragoonaden, K. & Bordeleau, P. 2000, Collaborative Learning via the Internet, Educational
Technology and Society 3(3), http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_3_2000/d11.pdf

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