This systematic review examines Asynchronous Online Discussions (AODs) in higher education, with a specific focus on AOD increasing learning outcomes and AOD alternatives. Inclusion and exclusion c...

A Systematic Review of Asynchronous Online Discussions in Online Higher Education

Asynchronous online discussions (AODs) can fail to benefit student learning in online classes if they are not designed to promote higher-order thinking. AODs can be designed as collaborative learning events that prompt students to go beyond the reproduction of basic content. The purpose of this study was to describe student participation, interaction, and levels of learning in AODs following pre-work activities. The pre-work in this study was conceptualized as socio-cognitive scaffolding. It engaged students in common activities where everyone experienced the same content preparation prior to the AOD. During the AOD students were prompted to share, discuss, and validate their understanding of the content. The study was conducted with 49 students in a graduate-level project management course. Results revealed that students were engaged in discussions of content-related material and showed evidence of deep learning during the AODs. Specifically, students analyzed, evaluated, and synthesized information during the collaboration. Results suggested that pre-work activities can be a promising strategy in the design of AODs.

The informed use of pre-work activities in collaborative asynchronous online discussions: The exploration of idea exchange, content focus, and deep learning

The primary goal of the study is to investigate the effect of the usage of humor on behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement in online learning. Humorous elements were integrated into the online learning components. The mixed-method study was conducted over 14 weeks with the participation of 74 university students in an online university course. As a result, elements of humor can be integrated into materials for attention grabbing, recalling, feedback, and humor breaks. A diversity of humorous elements created a significant difference and improved behavioral engagement for course materials, discussions, and assignments. However, humorous elements did not contribute to the behavioral engagement for quizzes. It was additionally observed for emotional engagement that the use of humor created a significant difference and improved emotional engagement. As for cognitive engagement, a positive influence of the usage of humorous elements in course materials, discussions and assignments was observed.

/pdf/the-educational-power-of-humor-on-student-engagement-in-2z9xiba9y4.pdf

The educational power of humor on student engagement in online learning environments

Living in the millennial era has encouraged all the learners to one step ahead maximizing the existed and updated technology for learning. Maintaining autonomous and long-distanced learning should have been introduced and implemented in higher education. Involving in an online learning environment is not enough without the ability to think critically. Critical thinking is the ability that is essentially required for learners in a higher education context. This paper discusses the challenges and strategies for implementing learners’ critical thinking through online learning. This paper used the literature study approach, in which all the information in this paper was obtained from books and journal articles. Briefly, the findings reveal that online learning can be good support for students to improve their critical thinking ability. However, there are also several challenges to do so involving the socio-cultural matter, the students’ previous learning habits, and the familiarity of using updated technology for learning. To end the discussion, the author provides several strategies to overcome those challenges. The well-designed online discussion (interactivity), critical-thinking learning content, and well-maintained instructions are several factors needed by online course instructors in order to improve their students’ critical thinking.

/pdf/promoting-students-critical-thinking-through-online-learning-2jcwdijyt7.pdf

Promoting students’ critical thinking through online learning in higher education: Challenges and strategies

This study looks at whether creativity and critical thinking help students solve problems and improve their grades by mediating the link between 21st century skills (learning motivation, cooperativity, and interaction with peers, engagement with peers, and a smart classroom environment). The mediating relationship between creativity and critical thinking was discovered using structural equation modelling (SEM) research. The participants in the study were 297 postgraduate and undergraduate students from four faculties at King Faisal University who consented to take part. They were chosen using random sampling and volunteered to take part. Learning motivation, cooperativity, peer interaction, peer engagement, and a smart classroom environment all had a direct positive impact on students’ critical thinking and creativity; their critical thinking and creativity had a direct positive impact on their problem solving and academic performance; and their problem solving had a direct positive impact on their academic performance. The hypotheses developed a model for measuring students’ critical thinking and creativity, which affect problem-solving skills and thus students’ academic performance in Saudi Arabian higher education. 

Constructivism learning theory: A paradigm for students’ critical thinking, creativity, and problem solving to affect academic performance in higher education

Use of online asynchronous discussion boards to engage students, enhance critical thinking, and foster staff-student/student-student collaboration: A mixed method study

This presentation examines the experiences of a particular group within the School of Health and Social Care as it created a community of practice in response to an international concern around students academic skills development and support in higher education. This Academic Skills Development Group generated a range of activities including small staff and student surveys that led to a wider exploration of the prevalent perceptions of literacies development and the culture of learning in which this was being sustained. Embracing a community of practice approach, the group, underpinned by the emergent literature, was able to challenge existing approaches to academic skills support across pre-registration, post-qualifying, and postgraduate courses. Initiatives included workshops, consultation in the schools strategic plan and also attempts to impact more fundamentally on the culture of learning within the school. The presentation highlights some of the obstacles and complexities encountered when attempting to define academic skills and develop effective support system.

Academic Skills Development: Changing Attitudes through a Community of Practice

Online discussion boards engage students, enhance critical thinking and foster staffstudent/student-student collaboration; A mixed methods study

For over 25 years cord blood has been used as an alternative to bone marrow for therapeutic use in conditions of the blood, immune system and metabolic disorders. Parents can decide if they would like to privately store their infant’s cord blood for later use if needed or to publicly donate it. Parents need to be aware of the options that exist for their infant’s cord blood and have access to the relevant information to inform their choice. The aim of this paper is to identify parent’s knowledge and awareness of cord blood donation, private banking options and stem cell use, and parent sources and preferred sources of this information. An integrative review was conducted using several electronic databases to identify papers on parents’ knowledge, attitudes and attitudes towards umbilical cord blood donation and banking. The CASP tool was used to determine validity and quality of the studies included in the review. The search of the international literature identified 25 papers which met review inclusion criteria. This integrative review identified parents’ knowledge of cord banking and/or donation as low, with awareness of cord blood banking options greater than knowledge. Parents were found to have positive attitudes towards cord blood donation including awareness of the value of cord blood and its uses, with the option considered to be an ethical and altruistic choice. Knowledge on cord blood use were mixed; many studies’ participants did not correctly identify uses. Information sources for parents on cord blood was found to be varied, fragmented and inconsistent. Health professionals were identified as the preferred source of information on cord blood banking for parents. This integrative review has identified that further research should focus on identifying information that expectant parents require to assist them to make informed choices around cord blood banking; and identifying barriers present for health professionals providing evidence based information on cord blood use and banking options.

/pdf/parents-knowledge-awareness-and-attitudes-of-cord-blood-53azir9ula.pdf

Parents’ knowledge, awareness and attitudes of cord blood donation and banking options: an integrative review

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

Deborah Massey

Author Tools

Chat about Author

Papers

Use of online asynchronous discussion boards to engage students, enhance critical thinking, and foster staff-student/student-student collaboration: A mixed method study

Academic Skills Development: Changing Attitudes through a Community of Practice

Online discussion boards engage students, enhance critical thinking and foster staffstudent/student-student collaboration; A mixed methods study

Parents’ knowledge, awareness and attitudes of cord blood donation and banking options: an integrative review