Always on Stress: The Emotive Impact of Anytime, Anywhere Discussion Boards.

This study assesses whether university students experience stress while using Piazza, an online discussion forum. Along with other forms of educational technology, the online discussion forum Piazza offers students and instructors potential benefits as well as drawbacks. Online discussion can generate several Piazza posts per day per student, along with additional emails and notifications. This near-constant stream of information could pressure students to keep up with new content, which could potentially lead to stress and confusion when posts may be incorrect and/or provide misconceptions. The aim is to clarify the impact on university students of the "always on" aspects of Piazza and other discussion forums. Data was gathered about how students use Piazza; their specific experiences; and whether using Piazza leads to stress or confusion. We found that although the content of discussion posts itself does not indicate stress or other emotions, students report pressure associated with checking websites and notifications. Students also report a mix of positive and negative emotions, including stress and anxiety, associated with Piazza use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]