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As asynchronous online discussions gain a broader usage due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the need for understanding of students' ideas from unstructured textual data becomes more pressing. In this experimental study, we examine the effects of recommendations on message quality and community formation from voluminous online discussions. Drawing on literature from group cognition, knowledge building discourse, and learning analytics, we calculate message quasi-quality index (QQI) scores based on message lexical complexity and topic-related keyword usage by participants in explaining their ideas. Furthermore, we examine the empirical evidence on the relationship between QQI scores and participants' interactions. Finally, we visualize network structures via sociograms and hierarchically cluster participants to identify subgroups. Our analysis of 281 messages finds that recommendations helped participants to write more messages that compared alternative viewpoints and refined preliminary ideas with higher QQI scores. Results also show that recommendations cultivated a sense of collective agency to increase the opportunity for creativity and reduce the likelihood that peripheral participants will be dissatisfied and fail to identify with a community. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.

In the context of large annotation-based literature discussions, this research examines the affordances of recommender systems on users’ disorientation. Drawing insights from literature on group co...

Background: Despite increasing popularity of Social capital, the relationship between social capital and ICT often appears to be an ambivalent one. Existing information systems (IS) literature presented various frameworks and theoretical foundations to facilitate the study of this concept, yet several contradictory findings have been reported indicating a significant knowledge gap in this domain. Current research adopts a holistic approach to address this knowledge gap by answering “How does social capital generate value or benefits in an ICT intervention?” Method: C urrent research employs a systematic literature review coupled with a grounded theory method to investigate proposed research questions. Results: Primary contributions of the current research include (1) the identification of contextual relationship between contextual factors and social capital dimensions, and (2) development of a holistic model of social capital driven benefits during ICT intervention where the ‘enablers’ and the ‘drivers’ of benefit have been identified. Conclusions: Identification of distinct roles and value-drivers related to social capital will help IS researchers in explaining “how and why” benefits are achieved while employing a social capital lens.

Our research uses a novel perspective of control balancing and stakeholder orientation to explore an information system (IS) phenomenon called enterprise IS diffusion. Employing a case-based, grounded theory approach, we analyse four large-scale IS implementation projects in a Canadian government organization. Our findings offer a synergistic approach to IS diffusion by integrating a dynamic control configuration perspective with stakeholder engagement, stakeholder sensitivity, and the impact of shifting stakeholder orientations on IS diffusion stages.We draw from control, control balancing, and stakeholder theories. Moreover, we refer to the IS implementation and IS diffusion literature to develop our argument. In doing so, this research develops a new and vital construct—stakeholder orientation—for IS implementation projects. We also identify the existence of four distinct stakeholder orientations, a combination of stakeholder engagement with stakeholder sensitivity in large ISD projects: (a) strategic, (b) responsibility, (c) best interest, and (d) economic cost.Through analysis and synthesis, we establish vital relationships among shifting control configurations, stakeholder engagement, stakeholder sensitivity, and IS diffusion stages, where maintaining an optimal stakeholder orientation, facilitated by appropriate control configuration, leads to a successful IS diffusion outcome. Furthermore, we propose an extension to the existing control balancing theory by identifying missing links and trigger factors.

This paper reports on software designed to visualize levels of quality within online conversational media. Prior to construction, data mining was performed on 2,157 online conversations and examined for attributes of quality. This initial dataset was analyzed for lexical complexity and prompt-specific vocabulary usage and helped guide the redesign of an existing asynchronous online discussion board (AOD). The new design incorporates a real-time quality analyzer and provides users with a visual breakdown of their post in relation to the overall group discussion thread. Results found that the proposed system produced higher levels of overall quality in discussion posts and increased interactions with higher quality discussion posts. Survey results and a social network analysis (SNA) indicate that the proposed system produced higher levels of system satisfaction and group cohesion when compared against control software.

This paper reports a theory-driven experimental study for designing and evaluating two different forms of attention-guidance functionalities integrated into an anchored-discussion system. Using social constructivism as a motivating theory, we constructed a theoretical framework that emphasizes the importance of students’ attention allocation in online learning conversations and its influence on message quality and interaction patterns. The development of the functionalities, named faded instructor-led and peer-oriented attention guidance, aimed to direct students’ attention toward instructional materials’ central domain principles while offering them an open learning environment in which they could choose their own topics and express their own ideas. We evaluated the functionalities with heat map analysis, repeated measures general linear model analysis, and sequence analysis to assess the utility of the developed functionalities. Results show that attention guidance helped students more properly allocate their attention in online learning conversations. Furthermore, we found that the improved attention allocation led to better quality of students’ online learning conversations. We discuss implications for researchers and practitioners who wish to promote more fruitful online discussions.

In this research we explore aspects of learning, social interaction and community across online learning, also known as distance learning, in higher education. We measure the impact of online social networking (OSN) software versus traditional learning management system (LMS) software. Guided by a theoretical model for how individuals learn and interact within online communities, we measure student perceptions of learning, social interaction and course community before and after our interventions. Survey instruments measure perceived learning, social interaction and community, which we further explore using social network analysis (SNA). Survey results identified that students experienced higher levels of perceived social interaction and course community and, overall, had higher levels of satisfaction with OSN software than those using LMS software. Along this line, SNA results corroborated that OSN software yielded a higher number of interactions, providing a more engaging learning experience.

Social interactions to supplement learning and asynchronous tools to facilitate exchange of quality ideas have gained much attention in information systems education. While various systems exist, students have difficulty with deep processing of complex instructional materials (e.g., concepts of a theory and pedagogical support mechanisms derived from a theory). This research proposes a theoretical framework that leverages attention guidance in a social constructivist approach to facilitate processing of central domain concepts, principles, and their interrelations. Using an open source anchored discussion system, we designed a set of instructor-based and peer-oriented attention guidance functionalities involving dynamic manipulation of text font size similar to tag clouds. We conducted an experimental study with two small groups of first-year doctoral students in a blended-learning classroom format. Students in the control group had no access to attention guidance functions. Students in the treatment group used instructor-based attention guidance functionality and then switched to peer-oriented attention guidance functionality. The evaluation compared focus, content, and sequential organization of students' online discussion messages with heat maps, content analysis, sequential analysis, and statistical discourse analysis to examine different facets of the phenomenon in a holistic way. The results show that in areas where students struggle to understand challenging concepts, instructor-based attention guidance functionality facilitated elaboration and negotiation of ideas, which is fundamental to higher order thinking. In addition, after switching to peer-oriented attention guidance functionality, students in the treatment group took the lead in pinpointing challenging concepts they did not previously understand. These findings indicate that instructor-based and peer-oriented attention guidance functionalities offer students an indirect way of focusing their attention on deep processing of challenging concepts in an inherently open learning environment. Implications for theory, software design, and future research are discussed.

Many students who participate in online courses experience frustration and failure because they are not prepared for the demanding and isolated learning experience. A traditional learning theory known as self-directed learning (SDL) is a foundation that can help establish features of a personalized system that helps students improve their abilities to manage their overall learning activities and monitor their own performance. Additionally, the system enables collaboration, interaction, feedback, and the much-needed support from the instructor and students' peers. A Web 2.0 social-technology application, MediaWiki, was adopted as the platform from which incremental features were developed to utilize the fundamental concepts of SDL. Students were able to customize content by setting specific learning goals, reflecting on their learning experiences, self-monitoring activities and performances, and collaborating with others in the class. SDL skills exist to some degree in all learners, this study finds that students' SDL abilities can improve when a course adopts a personalized and collaborative learning system that enables the students to be more proactive in planning, organizing, and monitoring their course activities. Self-directed learning methods positively impact online-education outcomes.Modified wiki platforms enhanced with features to reinforce self-directed learning can lessen obstacles to online learning.Self-directed learning is enhanced by social interaction, even online.

In this research we present a new design component for online learning communities (OLC); one that integrates Twitter with an online discussion board (ODB). We introduce our design across two sections of upper-division information systems courses at a university located within the U.S. The first section consisted of full-time online learners, while the second section met face-to-face twice a week. Guided by a working theoretical model for how individuals learn and interact within OLCs, we measure student perceptions of learning, social interaction and course community before and after our intervention. Initial findings were largely positive and students across both sections experienced high levels of learning, interaction and community. Our results pave the way for more integrated learning environments that incorporate online social networking (OSN) technologies.

This article reports a theory-driven experimental study that evaluates the effects of an annotation functionality on online social interaction and individual learning outcomes. The central hypothesis of this study is that directly addressing a part of a text by annotating it and then connecting each annotation with its related discussion can decrease coordinative interaction costs and result in a higher-quality discussion that favors greater gains in individual learning outcomes. To reach our objective, we carried out a theory-driven experimental study that compares two versions of an anchored discussion system: one with annotation functionality and one without it, both displaying the learning material side by side with its associated discussion in one window. Participants were 106 students enrolled in two sections of a blended-format course in health education. We assigned each section to a software condition. The examination of students' online social interaction centered on a fine-grained content analysis of coordination and knowledge construction activities as well as sequential analysis of knowledge construction activities. The results indicate that annotation functionality decreased coordinative interaction costs and stimulated more elaborated discussions that favored greater gains in individual learning outcomes. Implications for research and practice are discussed. © 2013 International Society of the Learning Sciences, Inc. and Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Computer-mediated communication has become a major research topic due to the growing number of graduate-level students entirely or partially enrolled in Internet-based degree programs. Drawing on the concept of common ground from Clark’s communication theory, we propose a model to investigate the varying quality and flow of online learning conversations. Our investigation centers on three discourse systems in order to isolate the effects of two functional differences: online presence of the learning material and a linking functionality. The first system, which supports parallel artifact-centered discourse, displays the learning material and its related discussion in a single window. The second system, which supports linked artifact-centered discourse, provides a bi-directional linking functionality between these two elements available in a single window. The control system, which supports conventional discourse, offers the two elements in separate windows. We conducted an experiment with 30 doctoral students enrolled in three sections of an introductory research methods seminar. A total of 30 discussion transcripts, 10 for each group, formed the basis of the data analyses. Using an integrated approach that combined content and sequential analyses, we categorized and sequentially plotted all messages. The findings demonstrate that the online presence of the learning material supports sustained discussions centered on understanding the meaning of a text. Moreover, a linking functionality promotes complex forms of interaction with the learning material and re-focuses the discussion when it digresses. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

This paper examines the utility of an unobtrusive attention guidance functionality integrated into an anchored discussion system. Our proposed design is founded in social constructivism and accomplishes two objectives: (1) to promote students' task oriented reading of central domain principles from instructional materials, (2) to support students' progressive improvement of tentative ideas focusing on central domain principles from instructional materials. We perform experimental research to test our design and apply quantitative techniques to rigorously evaluate the utility of the developed attention guidance functionality. Results show that attention guidance prompted students to reflect on and monitor their cognitive processes while reading information they deemed important. Moreover, we found that students invested deliberate efforts to improve tentative ideas by focusing on information they deemed important. Finally, we discovered such efforts to be a significant predictor of task oriented reading of central domain principles from instructional materials. Theoretical and practical implications are outlined.

We examine whether there are more information based trading activities that are generated around the time of earnings announcements. We distinguish between the influence of information based traders, especially short sellers, and market information quality through the reaction of participants to new information derived from corporate earnings announcements. We find that informed traders do take advantage of overpriced stocks, and do short stocks before the confirmation of past expectations of future cash flows from corporates. We apply Standardized Unexpected Earnings (SUE) in the method and our result indicates that informed traders are more likely to take advantage of overpriced stocks, using a tool (shorting) that is not traditionally used by unsophisticated investors. We also demonstrate an unique finding that informed traders follow stock analysts not for investing advice, but to take advantage of those unsophisticated investors that buy in to the rhetoric expressed by financial analysts.

The main purpose of this research is to examine the causal relationship between the Energy industry and nine other industries by use of volatility instead of returns. Existing literatures find a causal relationship by use of stock returns, however, we find that using volatility reveals a causal relationship that might not otherwise be revealed through returns alone. Since the existing literature shows that volatility of stock prices is informative, we apply a Granger causality test by use of a leveraged bootstrap test developed by Hacker and Hatemi (2006) to investigate the causal behavior of the volatility. Our results show that volatility of the Energy industry causes volatility in two other industries- Industrials and Health Care. Also, the Energy industry market is affected by the Materials, Consumer Staples and Utilities industries. This finding is substantially different from the findings of previous research, and provides a novel approach to analyzing and solving the energy consumption and economic growth puzzle.

This paper reports the unique value of two different modes of scaffolds, faded instructor-based and peer-oriented attention guidance, in online learning conversations. Drawing upon the instructional effectiveness and challenges of scaffolding, we present the design of three versions of an anchored discussion system: two versions with different modes of scaffolds and one regular version as a control condition. A total of 150 students distributed in three sections of a management information systems course participated in this study. We randomly assigned each section to one of the three software designs. The results demonstrate that both types of scaffolds focused students' attention to important information from text, which catalyzed deeper processing of important information. Moreover, we found that peer scaffold function facilitated a positive upward trend for the negotiation of differences in perspectives. These results indicate that attention guidance can support students to use instructional materials more constructively in online learning conversations.

This paper investigates the re-design and evaluation of an existing anchored discussion system. The purpose of the re-design is to focus social construction of knowledge on relevant information from online academic texts. We developed three prototype software environments: teacher-based attention guidance, peer-oriented attention guidance, and control condition. The evaluation of the re-design involved a longitudinal quasi-experiment with two small groups of doctoral students. The control group had no access to attention guidance. Treatment group students initially received teacher guidance then switched to a peer scaffolded environment. Results show that teacher-based attention guidance helped treatment group students to select relevant information and discuss it with higher quality interaction patterns. Moreover, when treatment group students switched to peer-oriented attention guidance, they maintained focus on central domain principles and their interrelations. However, the socio-cognitive process for discussing the importance of candidate areas did not differ between peer-oriented attention guidance and control conditions.

This paper reports a quasi-experimental study carried out with two social technologies in order to support and enhance collaborative knowledge construction among doctoral students discussing research papers. We conducted a fine-grained investigation of discourse in both systems by using three coherent theories of collaborative learning to guide three different methods of analysis. We started our investigation by analyzing the content of discussions in search for active meaning making. Then, we examined the interaction processes to identify new cognitions emerged from interacting individuals. We completed our investigation by evaluating the positive interdependence of distributed competencies in each group. Results indicate that the anchored discussion system seems to be particularly suited for theory-oriented collaborative processing of research papers.