Research Reviews

Discussion about the use of ICT in education has often focussed on the need for new skills such as critical thinking and collaboration. A framework for the effective use of conversation using educational technology by teachers was developed by Diana Laurillard (2002). However, analysis of actual online discussions and learner experiences of online discussions has not often been cited. If online collaboration and discussion are to be used effectively in education, then the pedagogical challenges need to be understood. DERN has featured previous research about different forms of educational delivery such as face-to-face, a mixture of face-to-face and online known as hybrid, and purely online where the hybrid mode has been shown to be the most effective. The need for a closer examination of online discussions was recognised in an interesting paper and presentation on Learning through online discussion: a framework evidenced in learner’s interactions hosted by The Association for Learning Technology Conference (ALT-C) 2011. The paper focussed on a qualitative study of six university students, their asynchronous online discussions and the factors that affected their learning.