Peer moderation of asynchronous online discussions: an exploratory study of peer e-moderating behaviour

This study explored patterns of e-moderating behaviour students performed when they were assigned as peer moderators of asynchronous online discussions in a reciprocal manner. Eighty-four students from an undergraduate blended course were observed during a 7-week-l...

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Main Authors: Ghadirian, Hajar, Mohd Ayub, Ahmad Fauzi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education 2017
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/62658/1/PEER.pdf
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author Ghadirian, Hajar
Mohd Ayub, Ahmad Fauzi
author_facet Ghadirian, Hajar
Mohd Ayub, Ahmad Fauzi
author_sort Ghadirian, Hajar
collection UPM
description This study explored patterns of e-moderating behaviour students performed when they were assigned as peer moderators of asynchronous online discussions in a reciprocal manner. Eighty-four students from an undergraduate blended course were observed during a 7-week-long online discussions. Using quantitative content analysis peer moderators’ interventions were analysed based on Smet, Keer, Wever, and Valcke’s (2010) scheme. The descriptive results show information exchange and knowledge construction supports were of continuous importance. Finally, a cluster analysis identified three distinct patterns of e-moderating behaviour: low-level moderators, mid-level moderators, and high-level moderators. The clusters differed in types of e-moderating support as well as their patterns of participation. High-level moderators dominated knowledge construction support and showed high level of online participation. Mid-level moderators dominated information exchange support and exhibited a moderate level of participation. Socialisation support and low level of participation were characteristics of low-level moderators. We further examined how these approaches were related to peer moderators’ perceptions of online discussions and academic performance. The results indicate that high-level moderators scored highest on all aspects of perceptions of online discussions and outperformed peer moderators in the other clusters with regard to academic performance.
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spelling upm.eprints-626582020-12-03T20:00:16Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/62658/ Peer moderation of asynchronous online discussions: an exploratory study of peer e-moderating behaviour Ghadirian, Hajar Mohd Ayub, Ahmad Fauzi This study explored patterns of e-moderating behaviour students performed when they were assigned as peer moderators of asynchronous online discussions in a reciprocal manner. Eighty-four students from an undergraduate blended course were observed during a 7-week-long online discussions. Using quantitative content analysis peer moderators’ interventions were analysed based on Smet, Keer, Wever, and Valcke’s (2010) scheme. The descriptive results show information exchange and knowledge construction supports were of continuous importance. Finally, a cluster analysis identified three distinct patterns of e-moderating behaviour: low-level moderators, mid-level moderators, and high-level moderators. The clusters differed in types of e-moderating support as well as their patterns of participation. High-level moderators dominated knowledge construction support and showed high level of online participation. Mid-level moderators dominated information exchange support and exhibited a moderate level of participation. Socialisation support and low level of participation were characteristics of low-level moderators. We further examined how these approaches were related to peer moderators’ perceptions of online discussions and academic performance. The results indicate that high-level moderators scored highest on all aspects of perceptions of online discussions and outperformed peer moderators in the other clusters with regard to academic performance. Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education 2017 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/62658/1/PEER.pdf Ghadirian, Hajar and Mohd Ayub, Ahmad Fauzi (2017) Peer moderation of asynchronous online discussions: an exploratory study of peer e-moderating behaviour. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 33 (1). pp. 1-18. ISSN 1449-5554 https://ajet.org.au/index.php/AJET/article/view/2882/1391 10.14742/ajet.2882
spellingShingle Ghadirian, Hajar
Mohd Ayub, Ahmad Fauzi
Peer moderation of asynchronous online discussions: an exploratory study of peer e-moderating behaviour
title Peer moderation of asynchronous online discussions: an exploratory study of peer e-moderating behaviour
title_full Peer moderation of asynchronous online discussions: an exploratory study of peer e-moderating behaviour
title_fullStr Peer moderation of asynchronous online discussions: an exploratory study of peer e-moderating behaviour
title_full_unstemmed Peer moderation of asynchronous online discussions: an exploratory study of peer e-moderating behaviour
title_short Peer moderation of asynchronous online discussions: an exploratory study of peer e-moderating behaviour
title_sort peer moderation of asynchronous online discussions an exploratory study of peer e moderating behaviour
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/62658/1/PEER.pdf
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