Gerber, S., Scott, L., Clements, D. H., & Sarama, J. (2005). Instructor influence on reasoned argument on discussion boards. Educational Technology Research & Development, 53(2).
Bulletin boards are often the main medium for discussion among teachers and students in distance education courses. This study explores the extent to which two instructional techniques promote critical discourse in asynchronous discussion boards in an online class. These techniques were: instructor stance (challenging or non-challenging) and cognitive level of the topic (higher-order or lower-order). Posts from 25 students in the course were analyzed. Results indicate that regardless of topic level, a challenging stance by the professor had a positive effect on the percentage of students’ posts that reference readings and theory. In addition, there was an interaction between level and stance on the percentage of students’ posts that employed reasoned argumentation. Lower-order challenging forums were associated with a comparatively higher percentage of reasoned posts than other conditions. Follow-up qualitative analyses were conducted on thread structure and post content in order to discern potential explanations for the findings. Implications for future research are described.