The impact of online discussion platform on students’ academic performance

Abstract

This paper reports on research investigating student experiences of learning through face to face and online discussions in business and marketing courses in a local self-finance institution. Using methodologies from relational research into university student learning, the study investigates associations between key aspects of student learning focusing on conceptions of what students learn, approaches to learning and learning outcomes. The students’ views on using online discussion platform and the difference in learning performance between students who did use online discussion platform and who did not will be compared in this study. Furthermore, it was expected to find that these differences were reflected in the learning outcomes, that is, student approaches would be linked to more complete conceptions of learning and to better academic performance. In other words, the existence of causal relationships between the using of online discussion platform and academic performance was also explored. Data on students’ conceptions and approaches was collected through group interviews and final marks were used as an indicator of the quality of learning in terms of students’ academic performance.