Abstract
The present study explored how students' sense of belonging and demographic background may predict what one finds helpful in replies to requests for help posted to an online college course discussion forum. We surveyed college students enrolled in an introductory statistics course on their sense of belonging to their course community, as well as how helpful they found 20 examples of replies to requests for help posted to a statistics course discussion forum. We found that students reporting lower belonging to their course community judged help-giving replies to be, on average, less helpful for their learning, when compared to those reporting higher belonging to their course community. Additionally, students reporting lower belonging to their course community had a greater likelihood of mentioning social support as a criterion for effective peer help-giving. These findings point to the importance of exploring how help-giving replies can be structured to attend to the learning needs of students who may feel alienated in classroom environments.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 100901 |
| Journal | Internet and Higher Education |
| Volume | 57 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 2023 |
Keywords
- College student
- Discussion forums
- Help-giving
- Sense of belonging
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Education
- Computer Science Applications
- Computer Networks and Communications