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Farshid_Thesis
- 1. Design, Implementation andTesting of a Visual Discussion Forum to Address New Post Bias Farshid Marbouti fmarbout@sfu.ca Spring 2012
- 2. Outline • Introducing NewPost Bias • Designing a new visual interface • Testing of the visual interface • Conclusion
- 3. Typical Online DiscussionForum • Text-based • Linear • Threaded • Asynchronous
- 4. Shortcomings • Discussions donot converge to a conclusion (Hewitt, 2001) • Fractured and incoherent conversations (Herring, 1999; Reyes & Tchounikine, 2003) • A low level of interactivity among learners (Thomas, 2002) • Student difficulties in deciding which posts to read and reply to in a highly branched discussion (Hewitt, 2003)
- 5. New Post Bias(NPB) • Reading only new posts – e.g. 82% of posts read were new (Hewitt, 2003) • Replying to the most recent posts – e.g. 65% of replies are made in 24H (Hewitt, 2003) • Why NPB is a problem? – Reading only new/scattered posts results in no or limited understanding of the discussion • Educational Consequences (Hewitt, 2005) – Unintentional death of threads – Unintentional drift of the discussion topic – Ignoring synthesizing or summarizing tasks – Ignoring difficult questions
- 6. Design Challenge • Onecause of NPB is the linear presentation of threads and posts via text-based interface (Hewitt, 2003; Swan, 2004) • A possible solution is highlighting the structure of the discussion via a visual interface (Kear, 2001; Hewitt, 2005) • Questions for designing a new interface. What is: – An appropriate method to present the structure of the discussion? – An appropriate method to illustrate posts as read or unread?
- 7. Presenting Structure ofthe Discussion • Tree structure • Prior studies used tree structure in discussion work – e.g. Hara, Bonk & Angeli, 2000; Aviv, Erlich, Ravid, & Geva, 2003; Scardamalia, 2004; Teplovs, 2008; Wise & Padmanabhan, 2009 • Match between tree and discussion structure – Node Post – Link Reply
- 8. Presenting Structure ofthe Discussion
- 9. Illustrating Posts asNew/Read
- 10. The Designed VisualForum
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- 12. Testing of thenew interface Research Questions • How does the visual forum change students’ reading patterns regarding which threads to visit and which posts to read? • How does the visual forum influence students’ behaviour in reading new posts?
- 13. Methodology • Authentic task •Record interactions and feedback • Hybrid Design (Forde, 2008) – Students participated in an online discussion via a text-based forum for a course – Asked students to participate in the same discussion via the new visual forum – Comparison case studies
- 14. Participants/Setting • Course/Discussion – Masters-levelcourse, offering of two years ago – 10 discussions, each 1 week long – Discussion worth was 30% of the grade • Participants – 7 (4 female, 3 male) out of 15 – 1 student graduated, 6 students at the end of their masters program
- 15. Task / DataCollection • Total time ~75 min • Read a summary of the selected week reading • Participated in two sessions with a 10-min break – Screen capturing and clickstream data – Think-aloud data • 1st Session: midway through the discussion – 24 posts (out of 39), ~15 minute • 2nd Session: at the end of the discussion – All 39 posts, ~25 min • Fill out a short online survey • Logged data from the course
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- 17. Results - Survey •Useful features – Visual design and layout – Integrated read and reply box – Reset button • Downsides – Movements – Not displaying full posts’ subjects – Missing authors’ names
- 18. Reading Patterns: VisitingThreads Visual Forum Text-based Forum Actively selected threads 5 students 2 students Let the interface decide 2 students (Counter) Clockwise Pattern 5 students Linear Pattern
- 19. Visual Interface: ClockwisePattern
- 20. Visual Interface: ActivelySelective Threads
- 21. Text-based Interface: LinearPattern
- 22. Text-based Interface: ActiveSelection
- 23. Reading Patterns: ReadingPosts Visual Forum Text-based Forum Read higher-level to lower-level posts 5 students (Radial Pattern) 4 students (Linear Pattern) Decided based on other factors 2 students (Mixed Patterns) 3 students (No Pattern)
- 24. Visual Interface: RadialPattern
- 25. Text-based Interface: LinearPattern
- 26. Reading New Posts:Last Session Visual Forum Text-based Forum Re-read posts before reading new ones 2 students Read new higher-level posts then new lower-level ones 4 students 1 student Read new posts (mostly skipped higher-level ones) 1 student 2 students Read only new replies to his/her posts 2 students Only re-read posts 1 student
- 27. Conclusion • Overall studentfeedback was positive. • In both forums students showed interest in reading new posts. • In the visual forum students were more active in selecting which threads to visit. • In the visual forum students (re)read higher- level posts before the new lower-level ones. • Negative consequences of NPB reduced by visual presentation of the discussion.
- 28. Limitations • Comparability ofsessions – Number – Duration – Time between sessions • Authenticity of the assigned task • Lack of observational data for the text-based forum
- 29. Implications for FutureWork • Design – Displaying authors’ names – Finding a post – Illustrating different posts (e.g. self, instructor) • Research – Test in a naturalistic setting – Task specific tests – Investigating students’ replying patterns
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- 39. Implications for Practice •Students rely on forum/interface in deciding which posts to read • Instructors should purposefully choose a forum that pedagogically support the assigned task • Instructors should assign tasks and roles in a discussion
Editor's Notes
- #4 Most online discussion forums are text-based and linear.
- #5 This slide is a quick overview of linear text-based online discussions shortcomings.
- #6 New posts bias: 82% of readings are only new posts.
- #8 Basic presentation, cone tree, tree map, space tree, hyperbolic tree
- #9 Basic presentation, cone tree, tree map, space tree, hyperbolic tree
- #10 Color, shape, size
- #18 All participants agreed that they would like to use the tool for a course. All participants found the reading and replying functions well-integrated, and everyone felt confident using the forum. No one found the forum unnecessarily complex or felt that they needed to learn a lot of things before working with the forum. In addition, overall students found the visual forum easy to use and easy to learn.