What Makes Learners Share Feedback or Not in an Online Community for Education

Abstract

Some higher education institutions create online communities to achieve engagement between teachers and learners. Unfortunately, some members seem to prefer sharing feedback via offline means instead of doing so in the online community. From qualitative data collected via flashcards, this article has found that this preference is largely due to their need for anonymity, and convenience that such offline means afford, but is largely absent in most online communities for education, e.g. Google Classroom. In addition, others preferred the offline means because they did not require an online connection – a resource whose absence could be a constraint in a resource-poor area such as the setting of this paper. The findings are discussed in terms of the implications for research and practice, and recommendations proffered.