1. Pedagogical Features Influencing Instructional Activities in a Discussion Board Forum Cathryn Friel Yanfei Ma Wanli Xing University of Missouri School of Information Science and Learning Technology

2. Introduction Four categories of interactions in LMS (Moore, 1989; Hillman, Willis, Gunawardena, 1994; Bouhnik & Marcus, 2006)  Learner-instructor  Learner-learner  Learner-content  Learner-system This study was primarily interested in the fourth interaction, learner/instructor-system interaction from the instructor’s perspective. The main focus of the study is on instructor interactions with Blackboard’s discussion board.

3. Context  This study investigated instructors’ preferences on Blackboard discussion board features to implement instructional activities  Two different versions of the same threaded discussion board forum was used  Identical discussions in each

4. Purpose of Study  The main focus of the study was on instructor interactions within Blackboard’s discussion board.  We identified the interaction preferences of instructors in the current discussion board in terms of existing features and instructional activities.  Important features  Frequent instructional activities  By comparing the old version of the discussion board forum with a newly designed forum within the same learning management system, we investigated both currently existing and newly changed features that influence instructional activities within discussion board forums.

5. Theoretical Framework Information Foraging theory was applied to investigate how instructors perceive existing factors in a learning management system interface (e.g., Blackboard discussion forum) to determine their preference and seeking strategies to obtain valuable information they need for assessing students’ input. (Pirolli and Card, 1999; Trespess, 2006) Pedagogical usability guided us in our study on how the Blackboard discussion board’s existing pedagogical objectives supports instructional activities and whether or not the pedagogical objectives in the newly designed version added value as anticipated. (Nokelainen, 2006; Tervakari et al., 2002; Trepess, 2006)

6. Research Questions 1. When engaging in instructional activities, what features in a learning management system’s discussion board are important to instructors? 1.1 What features in a discussion board tool are important to instructors? 1.2 What instructional activities in a discussion board do instructors perform most often? 1.3 What instructional activities are most difficult for instructors to perform? Why? 2. Which version of a learning management system discussion board forum does instructors prefer to use when given a rubric and asked to perform a set of instructional activities? Why?

7. Methods Qualitative Study Survey – demographic data and prior experience Observations Interviews Participants Faculty and graduate instructors in the College of Education All participants actively use Blackboard Discussion Board experience of participants ranged from 6 months to over 6 years Company Logo

8. Methods Approach Participants randomly placed into two groups Counterbalanced Data Collection Survey – a Qualtrics survey was emailed to participants Observations – observed participants navigate and perform tasks in the two different discussion board versions Interviews – participants were interviewed following the observations

9. Findings Most important feature: easily track and respond to student posts Most often performed activities: reading and replying to student posts Most difficult activities: interacting with students & facilitating group discussion Version Preference: Overall, the new version

10. Implications Improve DB features to make reading and reply more convenient & accessible for instructors who now forage Pedagogical usability needs to be assessed to promote instructor’s experience in implementing instructional activities Add features to make facilitating group discussions easier Discussion Board designers need to refine pedagogical objectives and adding value to support instructor-student interaction

11. Conclusions Environment changed to make finding valuable information easier New Discussion Board preferable Pictures New threaded format More research needed to fully explore design elements that support pedagogical usability

12. Questions & Discussion