Integrating inline discussions into online learning guides: the experience of teachers and learners

The module team for a new module (KE322 Young Lives, Parenting and Families) has been working with colleagues in Learning and Discovery Services (LDS) to develop ‘inline discussion’, a new tool within the OU’s VLE. Inline discussions are now being used across a number of OU modules. This scholarship project aimed to use action research to evaluate and improve the impact of inline discussions on learning and teaching, particularly in the context of a taught OU module, and to inform further development of the inline discussion tool.   

The development of inline discussion aligns with the OU’s academic strategy, promoting a more direct relationship between central academics and students through ‘digital innovation (which) will support a more engaged, responsive, student-centred and collaborative approach to learning’, creating ‘academic communities that are visible to our students, and with which they identify’. http://www.open.ac.uk/about/main/sites/www.open.ac.uk.about.main/files/files/academic-strategy-2017.pdf

The Inline discussion tool allows everyone involved in the module (primarily students and members of the module team, but also Associate Lecturers) to post questions, comments and ideas into an embedded, drop-down discussion forum that is linked to a specific activity or piece of learning. All participants can read and/or comment on other people’s contributions. Inline discussion forms a key part of KE322’s learning design and is intended to provide students with a supportive and cognitively stimulating space that reduces social isolation, enhances motivation and engagement and supports retention and achievement. Each of the module’s 8 learning guides includes up to 9 inline discussions. These are led by a member of the module team (usually the academic author of the learning guide), who monitors and contributes to the discussions. Contributions can be made over the two-week period when they are scheduled in the study planner, after which they become ‘read only’. The aim is to enhance the pedagogy of selected activities and pieces of learning through direct engagement of students with the academic author of the material, encouraging and supporting a collaborative approach to learning and building a learning community that supports students’ retention and achievement (Thomas, 2012). Through their presence, authors can pose questions, interrogate, and provide feedback on students’ contributions. Inline discussions provide opportunities to check students’ understanding and help them contextualise and critically engage with concepts, ideas and values linked to the module learning outcomes. They also provide opportunities to introduce ‘in the moment’ case examples, ideas and other sources of contemporary knowledge, which is important given the focus of KE322. 

The project and the report that follows has been informed by a community of inquiry (CoI) framework that ‘posits that learning is the product of three overlapping presences: teaching presence, social presence and cognitive presence’ (Meyer, 2014:14). It presents qualitative data gathered from three perspectives – students, ALs and central academic authors – and draws on module data analytics provided by colleagues in LDS. 

The findings suggest that while the Inline discussions may only have been found beneficial by a minority of students on this first module presentation, barriers to engagement were identified providing the potential to increase the value to students in the future. ALs expressed a range of opinions; while most saw inline discussion to be a positive development, some expressed concerns about the greater involvement of central academics and the issues this raised for the AL role. Central academics reflected positively on the potential for inline discussions to support direct communication and engagement between academics and students, and about the benefits for them as teachers of directly experiencing how students were grappling with module ideas and engaging with materials they had authored, including observing ‘light bulb’ moments for students. A number of technical improvements that could be made to enhance the functionality of the inline discussion ‘tool’ and to enhance students’ experience of inline discussion were also identified.