Exploring Learners’ Facilitation Strategies in Online Discussion Forums

Abstract

Online discussion forums have the potential to contribute to the development of learners’ higher order thinking by promoting writing and reflective practices within quality online learning spaces. In the Community of Inquiry framework, not only instructors but participants are expected to demonstrate teaching presence; however, research that focuses on participants’ facilitation strategies remains limited. This study explored how learners adopt facilitation strategies in forums and whether such strategies foster higher order thinking. This study is situated within a broader action research project, with a particular emphasis on mediation transfer. In this study, a blended learning program was created to develop the higher order thinking of English language learners at a public high school in Japan. The intervention design was based on ecological constructivism, and the instructor’s mediation was informed by sociocultural theory. Participants’ forum interactions were transformed into quantitative data using three content analysis instruments. The instructor’s mediation was analyzed using an original coding framework. Participants’ facilitation strategies were analyzed using a qualitative interpretive approach. The data indicated that two participants who exhibited higher order thinking made use of various facilitation strategies in their interactions. This study concluded that the transfer of mediation strategies between instructor and participants could occur if instructors employ various mediation strategies as a model, and if participants understand the value of collaborative constructivist learning. A key limitation of this study is the lack of generalizability, as it was conducted within a specific context and with a small participant group, despite detailed accounts of the course design, site, and procedures.