Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching - National University

language used in the description and guidelines for a Q&A Forum assignment in an online
course.)
Advantages of the Q&A Forum
The Q&A Forum is better at achieving the goal of peer interaction and critical discussion than
merely requiring students to post peer comments; it can do everything peer comments are meant
to do and more. Deeper engagement with peer work is guaranteed because the main task of the
assignment is to answer another student’s original question. Since students must each answer a
different question, they will not only be eager to read through all of the questions to find one
they want to answer but also be prompt about completing the assignment, as the sooner they
engage, the greater the selection of questions. The last person to post his or her answer will be
left with the final unanswered question. Seeing the list of available questions visibly dwindle as
the due date draws near creates a real-time indicator of students working together as a class on
the same project. Students enjoy the mildly competitive “race” to answer their preferred
question. If they move precipitously, they will not have the advantage of seeing the entire list of
questions; if they wait too long, they may miss their chance to answer the question of their
choice. This kind of dynamism is a good way to engage students.
The structure of this assignment also stimulates students to pay more attention to what
others in the class are doing, because the assignment suggests that the question refer back to one
or more peer posts in the previous discussion board; this provides a strong incentive to read
through a number, if not all, of the previous discussion posts. By contrast, the peer-comment
assignment can be fulfilled by simply reading two other posts in order to make two comments;
students are given no real motivation to go beyond this effort. The Q&A Forum assignment gives
students a self-interested reason to read through more of their peers’ discussion-board posts:
They will want to craft a relevant and interesting question, so they will be likely to read through
various posts to find one that helps them come up with good ideas. Also, the suggestion that a
good way to formulate a relevant question is to refer to another student’s discussion-board post
will lead to critical thinking skills kicking into gear, because the student’s own grade is affected
by successfully using analysis and creativity in relation to the ideas and arguments of others.
Koszalka and Ganesan (2004) make the well-supported point that active peer
collaboration and social interaction on specific instructional tasks or course assignments is a
significant factor in successful learning in online environments (and it can be asserted that the
same holds true for onsite classroom situations). They claim that learning takes place in other
ways than simply taking in and comprehending new information. Learning takes hold when the
needs of learners are addressed, and learning
grows out of conversation and shaping of understanding through interactions with the
content and others in the learning environment. Thus, the instructional design focus of
online instruction must be to engage learners purposefully and strategically in integrated
interactions with content, activities, peers, and with the instructor ultimately facilitating
the learning process (p. 244).
The Q&A learning tool advances these specific goals and aims to meet the purposes of
successful learning as specified in the well-known ARCS model of motivational design
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