A Proposed Cohesive Use of Online Discussion Board from the Aspects of Instructional and Social Interactions in Engineering Education

Abstract

This article uses instructional and social interactions in the current era of networked learning as a conceptual metaphor to guide the design of engineering learning practice. Because of students' digital literacy and their customary means of acquiring information and peer-to-peer interaction, researchers have also explored the potentials of implementing social networks for student learning. This article values these two trends and explores how both mechanisms can be implemented in an engineering course. The topics delivered to students should be based on the needs of daily life. In addition, students in online discussion board-related learning are introduced to discussing their works. A learning activity design is proposed with the aim of providing a richer understanding of the interactional relationship between instructional and social interactions regarding the use of online discussion boards. The main findings reveal the importance of re-designing the online discussion board to bridge students' study between in-class and out-of-class discussion.