Thinking about a possible Part 4 for the questionnaire - 

• Jenny, "If you think this is workth pursuing," definitely, I already like most of the questions, and added some more (whose wording is, of course, not apposite and fluent unless revised by a native speaker).

Part 4 could be entirely separate from the first parts or could be a continuation. My rational for this part is to go beyond collecting simple quantitative data and to begin to explore people’s communication and learning experiences on the CCK08 course, focussing on the differences between those who preferred blogging to discussion forums and vice versa.

 

So key research question is?

Why did some CCK08 participants choose to blog rather than post to the Moodle forums and vice versa?

 

Sub questions might be?[J1]

Did these two groups of people have identifiable group specific common characteristics?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of blogs and discussion forums for self-directed learning?

 

I have remembered Soini and Flynn’s article in which they identify 6 aspects of critical learning instances (see notes)

 

Emotional significance (62%)

Reflection (53%)

Differing perspectives (42%)

Collaboration (38%)

Autonomy (33%)

Dialogue (24%)

 

It occurred to me that Part 4 could include sets of statements based on these or a similar adapted list and a Likert Scale type of questionnaire, i.e. Strongly agree to strongly disagree.

 

An alternative way of doing this would be two have two statements at each end of a continuum, e.g.[J2]

 

 

 

There was a greater sense of community between CCK08 forum participants

0

2.5

5.0

7.5

10

There was a greater sense of community between CCK08 bloggers

 

 

Participants would then mark their position on the continuum 

 

Or we could go for a Likert Scale, strongly agree to strongly disagree, using the following types of statements

 

Experiences related to technology[J3]

 

• Posting to the CCK08 Moodle[J4] forum required less effort than posting to a blog
• Posting to the CCK08 Moodle forum enabled faster communication than posting to a blog
• It was easier to follow a CCK08 Moodle forum thread than a blog conversation

 

Emotional significance[J5]

 

• There was a greater sense of community between CCK08 Moodle forum participants than between CCK08 bloggers
• There was less mutual respect between the CCK08 forum participants than between the CCK08 bloggers
• Relationships between the CCK08 Moodle forum participants were stronger than between CCK08 bloggers
• The CCK08 Moodle forum posts elicited stronger emotions than the CCK08 blog posts
• Posting to the CCK09 Moodle forums generated greater feelings of excitement than posting to a CCK08 blog
• Posting to the CCK08 Moodle forums generated greater feelings of anxiety than posting to a CCK08 blog

 

Relationships [J6]

 

• It was easier to form relationships with other course participants in the CCK08 forums than in the CCK08 blogs

• There was a greater sense of closeness between CCK08 forum participants than between CCK08 bloggers

• It was harder to form relationships that lasted beyond the end of the[J7] course in the CCK08 forums than it was in the CCK08 blogs

•  

(Relationships/ connections between concepts in addition to those between people. Expected outcome M = moodler, B = blogger)

• I find it more convenient in forums that all the relevant aspects and ideas are collected in one place. (M)
• It's not very important for me that in forums, all the relevant aspects and ideas are collected in one place. (B)
• I find it more convenient in forums that all the recently discussed aspects and ideas are quickly accessible. (M)
• It's not very important for me that in forums, all the recently discussed aspects and ideas are quickly accessible. (B)

• I am excited when people bring lots of obviously related aspects to the table. (M)

• I don't like musings about far-fetched associations and wonderings if they might be connected to the topic  at hand. (M)

• I don't want to be distracted by ever more links. (M)

• I am fascinated that forums discussions rapidly connect to more aspects while the previous aspects are still lively present in mind. (M)

• When new aspects and ideas come up, I like to explore their source and author, and sometimes they resonate with me when I learn more about their background. (B)

 

 

Reflection

 

• The CCK08 forum discussions were less reflective than the CCK08 blog discussions
• The CCK08 forum discussions were so fast that they prohibited reflection
• There was less time for reflection in CCK08 forum discussions than in the CCK08 blogs

 

Differing perspectives

 

I have found these statements difficult to complete so have posted as far as I have got. If you think this is workth pursuing, then I will carry on another day. It's very difficult to come up with statements that will give us valuable information. You both might be more successful. 

 

Autonomy

The CCK08 discussion forums were more teacher-controlled than the CCK08 blogs

There are fewer opportunities for self- expression

 

Dialogue

 

Still to do

 

Audience

 

Still to do

 

 

Cognitive style

 

Still to do

 

There might be other or alternative categories under which we could organise statements like this.

 

Whilst working on these statements, I wondered if it might be preferrable to make a long list of statements and ask respondents to select which ones apply to them. We could either separate these statements into 'Moodlers' and 'bloggers' as shown below, or we could just lump them all together and ask people to state there preference, i.e. for forums or blogs on the CCK08 course at the end of the list.

 

I preferred blogging to Moodle forum discussions on the CCK08 course because…. (please select the response that you agree with)

 

I was already familiar with blogging

The blogging community was more friendly

There was more mutual respect between CCK08 bloggers than in the Moodle forums

I was less likely to be criticised on my blog

I could avoid the ‘loud forum voices’

I felt less anxious when blogging than when posting to the Moodle forums

I was able to forge closer relationships in the blogging community

I did not feel connected to the Moodle forum participants

Blogging allowed me more control over my own learning

I had more control over the topics I wanted to explore.

I could work at my own pace

Blogging allowed me time for reflection

I liked the ‘slowness’ of blogging

I was able to able to be truer to my own thinking in my blog posts

I had more opportunities for self-expression in my blog

Blogging allowed me to have a voice on the CCK08 course

Writing for my blog gave me more pleasure than writing in the Moodle discussion forums

Blogging allowed me more personal space

Blogging allowed me had more ownership over my learning environment

Blogging allowed me more freedom in the choice of discussion topics to follow

Blogging allowed me more freedom in the choice of people to follow

I found it easier to understand the CCK08 blog posts than the Moodle forum posts

I didn’t feel comfortable in the Moodle forums

I didn’t feel I had anything to contribute to the Moodle forum discussions

I could not make my voice heard in the Moodle forum discussions

The CCk08 bloggers often provided summaries of the weekly topics and this helped my learning

 

 

If you have any additional comments you would like to make please type them in the box below.

 

 

 

 

I preferred communicating in the Moodle forums to blogging on the CCK08 course because…. (please select the response that you agree with)

 

I was already familiar with posting to discussion forums

The Moodle forum discussions were more accessible

Blogging requires more effort than I wanted to make

I enjoyed the fast pace of the Moodle forums

I enjoyed the challenging discussion that took place in the Moodle forums

There was more lively debate in the Moodle forums

I was able to connect with a greater number of people in the Moodle forums

I felt more of a sense of community in the Moodle forums

I had a greater number of readers in the Moodle forums than I would have had on a blog

I preferred the linear style of the Moodle forum discussions

The discussion in the forums was more substantive than in the blogs

There was more knowledge creation in the Moodle forums

I received more response to my posts in the Moodle forums

The quality of posts in the Moodle forums was higher than on the blogs

The discussion in the Moodle forums was more flexible

It was easier to follow the discussion threads in the Moodle forums

It was easier to track back and locate information in the Moodle forums

There were fewer personal posts in the Moodle forums

I felt more comfortable in the Moodle forums

I was able to establish a presence in the Moodle forums

I felt I had a voice in the Moodle forums

I was able to make a greater contributions to the Moodle forums

 

If you have any additional comments you would like to make please type them in the box below.