Introduction
Modern academic facilities are interested in developing and discussing various models to evaluate adult students learning processes and the role of educators. Common approaches to contribute to the field of education include social interactions, online communication, and critical thinking. In this report, the article “Meaningful Learning from Sustained Online Communication: A Reflection with a Group of Adults” by Abdallah and Albadri in the book about information systems in the education sector will be criticized. The editor of the book, Albadri, wanted to investigate how the process of globalization influences teachers and adult students in different countries. The chosen article contains an analysis of an online discussion board to share and construct knowledge among adult students. Relying on the already offered models and learning approaches, Abdallah and Albadri (2013) introduced their model to prove that the adoption of e-learning technologies would enhance the possibilities of students in the Arab World. Despite the intention to create a unique evaluation tool, the article under analysis is characterized by certain significant conclusions and weaknesses in terms of organizing qualitative research that have to be identified and reviewed.
Research Problem
The online learning experience of students varies, depending on such factors as personal abilities, social standards, and the level of teachers’ professionalism. However, the necessity to evaluate results is the thing that remains permanent in any learning process. Therefore, the authors of the article under analysis shared the statement that adult education may be considerably improved by engaging students through online discussion boards under well-designed models (Abdallah and Albadri, 2013). The research problem is to understand how to use an online social constructivist tool for evaluating student learning expectations and outcomes. According to Abdallah and Albadri (2013), this question is researchable because similar methods were developed and analyzed during the last three decades. Due to the fact that the offered approach is extensive, it is possible to focus on various knowledge elements. Social interactions gain different forms, and adult students are able to use their past experiences and means of communication. However, not all of them understand how to apply their achievements to meaningful learning.
The research problem and questions raised in the article have extensive background information. The quality of online discussions may be measured by the already developed models, including those of Garrison et al., Bullen, Henri, Bloom, etc. (as cited in Abdallah and Albadri, 2013). However, the reason for the discussion of a new model of evaluating is the necessity for faculty to stay experimental and consider individual levels of engagement in regard to the current e-learning technologies. The ways of how online interactions may go are unpredictable, and education performance depends on how well teachers know their students and how prepared students are for new tasks. Although the problem statement does not indicate specific variables in research, the information of the chosen exploratory case study was properly analyzed to introduce four new categories to evaluate students’ skills, processes, and results.
Review of the Literature
After the introduction of the study and the identification of the major research questions and problems, the authors aim at evaluating the already existing online learning discussion boards. Although there is no section name “Literature Review”, there is a part of the paper that contains the elements of a comprehensive review of the relevant literature. First, Abdallah and Albadri (2013) mentioned that many studies about online learning and the examination of students’ posting could be appropriate as a background for their research. Qualitative and quantitative methods could be appropriate for the analysis of knowledge construction. However, certain attention was paid to several primary sources, where inquiry models and cognitive processes were investigated.
The results of the eight models were introduced and compared in a brief way. To underline the main ideas and differences, the authors created a table with the elements of each model. In 2000, Garrison et al. applied a community of inquiry model with three categories (cognitive, social, and teaching presence) (as cited in Abdallah and Albadri, 2013). Several years before, such authors as Gunawardena, Lowe, and Andeson (1997), Bullen (1998), and Newman, Webb and Cochrane (1997) offered their methods of evaluation of cognitive processes that could be applied to online learning. The differentiation between in-depth and surface cognitive processes was studied by Henri in 1992 to prove the role of teachers’ participation in student learning (as cited in Abdallah and Albadri, 2013). At the same time, the earlier works by Bloom (1956), Norris and Ennis (1989), and Brookfield (1987) were also necessary for measuring learning outcomes. However, the main limitation of these approaches is the necessity to use them simultaneously in order to achieve the required results.
To prove the effectiveness of the chosen studies, the authors of the article under consideration wrote a brief summary of the literature to prove that challenges and concerns have to be solved. The lack of a common and simple evaluation tool was the factor to think about the creation of a new model, relying on past experiences and current demands. Today’s online learning continues developing, and adult students want to be engaged in the online environment without neglecting their personal interests and obtained knowledge.
Article’s Contribution
The application of discussion boards in online education is not a new thing, and many academic facilities have already implemented certain models. In Abdallah and Albadri’s article, there is a properly formulated statement that online interaction is usually determined by several cognitive activities to improve students’ critical thinking. One of the contributions made within the article is the decision to work with students from Arab schools where e-learning is promoted. It means that the demands and resources for teaching adult students in the Arab World are considered. Another benefit is the creation of a new model that has gained positive feedback among MBA graduate students who take e-business courses. Such dimensions as observation, insights, deliberation, and learning from others improve the quality of education and encourage adults to participate in multiple activities available at discussion boards (Abdallah and Albadri, 2013). An online social constructivist model is a result of current learning experiences and strategies that are frequently applied by modern students.
At the same time, the lack of the hypothesis (that is usually inherent to exploratory case studies) and tests to check the appropriateness of the offered material confuse the reader. Despite evident contributions and new ideas, the researchers admit that further development and validation are required (Abdallah and Albadri, 2013). The point is that not all categories were properly discussed and explained. The authors questioned the validity of the project by the impossibility to understand if students could learn from each other the way that is convenient for the model. On the one hand, it is remarkable that Abdallah and Albadri tried to prove the correctness of their model for the evaluation of students’ skills and interactions. On the other hand, it seems that the authors were pressed in time and did not add several crucial elements to their study to make it reliable and valid in the academic field.
Theoretical Model
The success of education depends on how well teachers and students understand the worth of the theoretical background in their work. In the article, there is no section with a theoretical framework being properly identified and discussed. Still, the authors mentioned the importance of the andragogy theory for adult learning developed by Knowles (as cited in Abdallah and Albadri, 2013). The idea of this theory is that adults are responsible for making decisions in their education. Compared to children, adults are introduced as self-directed and autonomous students who are able to use their experience and demonstrate conscious approaches (Abdallah and Albadri, 2013). This theory helps to explain the necessity of new models for online education so adult students could construct their knowledge not only on direct collaboration with teachers but with each other. Attention to this theory makes the study under analysis rationale in terms of the offered environment and goals.
Data Description
The development of methodology is one of the critical steps in any research. Abdallah and Albadri (2013) clearly identified that their work was an exploratory qualitative study based on rich data. To support the choice of data gathering and data analysis methods, the authors relied on the theories of qualitative approaches. They explained that this way of investigation helps to collect information from real subjects (humans) and analyze their words and actions. The purpose of their qualitative method is to gain insights into a learning process that motivates adult students to make independent decisions and take responsibility for their steps. To demonstrate their critical abilities, Abdallah and Albadri (2013) focused on the limitations, talking about the possibility of using subjective information and personal interpretations of the gathered material. However, this observation should not be defined as a weakness but an opportunity to identify some new aspects of the same processes in which students are regularly involved.
Two groups of students from the same business school were chosen for research. Abdallah and Albadri (2013) did not specify the number and gender of participants, but they mentioned their education level – graduate students. The description of a data-gathering process was also given. It was expected from each MBA e-business student to create one critical thinking question and give answers to at least nine questions (Abdallah and Albadri, 2013). At the same time, students had to attend lectures and participate in classroom activities. The discussion of the results obtained from the participants took about 70 pages, but they were not attached to the paper. Therefore, it is hard to judge the quality and credibility of information in this critique report. Several sentences were devoted to the discussion of data analysis methods. Abdallah and Albadri (2013) used NVivo qualitative analysis software for students’ replies converted into a text file. A distinctive feature of this study was that the researchers did not create some categories beforehand but used the results of the analysis for new codes, which turned out to be new categories for a social constructivist tool.
The weaknesses of the study methods were not discussed in the article. However, the absence of subtests and measurements for categories could be considered as a limitation for further analysis. In addition, an unknown number of participants and no educators as direct participants of discussion board activities diminish the effectiveness of the results. No information about how the participants were chosen; thus, it was mentioned that it took a long period of time to identify the criteria for selection.
Results
Discussion boards are used to provoke communication between students and make them think critically. The result showed by Abdallah and Albadri (2013) was a model with four categories for cognitive processes: observation, insight, deliberations, and learning from others. Observations are necessary to search for information and complete the required tasks in regard to existing social issues. Insights must be gained by students to give appropriate answers and understand the essence of their work. Observations help gather the material, and insights are important for understanding what should be done with this information. The next step is the discussion of the offered ideas in a group, also defined as deliberation. The authors not only describe the categories but compare their characteristics to explain the reader the worth of each concept in the model. Finally, the process of learning from others was the category which the researchers wanted to validate and elaborate with time because of the impossibility to determine students’ cooperation. There were no statistically significant tests to check the project’s reliability and validity. As a part of qualitative research, the author created a table to identify and briefly describe the results.
Conclusion
In general, the authors of the article set a particular research question and answer it, using the information obtained from the participants. Four determinants of adult student learning were described and compared. However, the reader was not able to understand how many students were invited, what specific criteria were followed, and if gender factors played a role. Therefore, the quality of the interpretation of the problem and its solution could be improved by means of additional description and investigation. The conclusions turn out to be clear but not strong enough as it was expected. Additional work, attention to the details, and specific measurements are required to improve the study and create a framework for the analysis of cognitive processes in students who are involved in online learning.
Reference List
Abdallah, S. and Albadri, F. A. (2013) ‘Meaningful learning from sustained online communication: a reflection with a group of adults’, in Albadri, F. A. (ed.) Information systems applications in the Arab education sector. Hershey: IGI Global, pp. 208-216.