Using Social Media to Improve Peer Dialogue in an Online Course About Regional Climate Modeling

Abstract

Recent technology advancements provide worldwide information exchange that has been invaluable for the scientific community, particularly for issues surrounding global climate change. Many online learning spaces have developed which are often repositories of information rather than a space of knowledge construction. Classroom dialogue is shown to be an important component for effective learning, therefore it should be developed online as well. This article explores how social media can support dialogue in e-learning. Interactions were studied in two online courses about regional climate modeling. The first used traditional forums and the other promoted a Facebook group for online interactions. Qualitative results indicate that the Facebook group showed improvement because elements of dialogue began to emerge, including open-ended questions and episodes of peer discussion. Quantitative findings suggest the Facebook interactions were perceived as more informal and participants posted, responded, and interacted with their peers more significantly than traditional forums.