Read Only Participants: A Case For Student Communication In Online Classes Case Study
Article Summary: Read-Only Participants: A Case for Student Communication in Online Classes
Amanda Hicks
Grand Canyon University: EDU 535
March 11, 2015
Article Summary: Read-Only Participants: A Case for Student Communication in Online Classes This article discusses how communication, or lack thereof, affects student outcomes in the online learning environment. The author is trying to communicate the importance of communication, teamwork, and quality input in online learning. Beaudoin proposed that online students can learn and master content even if they appear “invisible” in the online community (Beaudoin, 2002). The idea is that a less skilled student would “lurk” or watch other students more experienced and skilled and learn from them. Nagel on the other hand proposed that most “successful” students actively participated in the online environment (Nagel, 2009). …show more content…
The studies however determined that there are many ways to be a non-participant. Read only participants read the material and discussions/posts but remain silent in their studies. These read only participants harvest more information than the other non-participants. There are also non-participants who participate but never offer anything of value. These students post and respond but usually offer very little of value to the online community. The poorly visible students are described as students with connectivity and technology issues that communicate using other means (cellular phones) directly with the instructor and keep current on work but seem non-participatory to others. Lastly, there are the non-participants we most often think of. The absent student who just doesn’t seem to be in the class. They skip assignments, put work off on others in groups, don’t participate in discussions, and usually do not review a majority of the reading (Nagel,
Amanda Hicks
Grand Canyon University: EDU 535
March 11, 2015
Article Summary: Read-Only Participants: A Case for Student Communication in Online Classes This article discusses how communication, or lack thereof, affects student outcomes in the online learning environment. The author is trying to communicate the importance of communication, teamwork, and quality input in online learning. Beaudoin proposed that online students can learn and master content even if they appear “invisible” in the online community (Beaudoin, 2002). The idea is that a less skilled student would “lurk” or watch other students more experienced and skilled and learn from them. Nagel on the other hand proposed that most “successful” students actively participated in the online environment (Nagel, 2009). …show more content…
The studies however determined that there are many ways to be a non-participant. Read only participants read the material and discussions/posts but remain silent in their studies. These read only participants harvest more information than the other non-participants. There are also non-participants who participate but never offer anything of value. These students post and respond but usually offer very little of value to the online community. The poorly visible students are described as students with connectivity and technology issues that communicate using other means (cellular phones) directly with the instructor and keep current on work but seem non-participatory to others. Lastly, there are the non-participants we most often think of. The absent student who just doesn’t seem to be in the class. They skip assignments, put work off on others in groups, don’t participate in discussions, and usually do not review a majority of the reading (Nagel,