These are the slides accompanying my presentation "Making discussions forums work" at the University of Manchester on 2nd November 2012. They might be of interest to language and translation teachers looking for ideas to get their discussion forums off the ground. Please check the provisional proposed model and add your comments at: http://bit.ly/QYIozR

1. Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Making discussion forums work
Benoît Guilbaud
benoit.guilbaud@manchester.ac.uk
@benguilbaud

2. Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
This work is licensed under the
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Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).
To view a copy of this license, visit:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/deed.en_US.
Benoît Guilbaud, 2012

3. “More group work”
“I don’t know the
people on my course”
“I feel isolated when I work”
Picture by pennstatelive via flickr.com

4. Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Social Distance
Face-to-face
Peer-feedback
Openness
Sharing
Error correction
Transparency Open learning

5. Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Context
English ⇢ French 25 final year September 2011 -
translation (L1 ⇢ L2) undergraduates (C1) March 2012
1 hour / week 18 texts Weekly contributions
contact time 18 weeks to discussion forums

6. Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Weekly task
Sharing part of the Commenting on one
homework on the forums another’s contributions

7. Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
The study
Collect student feedback on use of OADs for peer-feedback
Measure student engagement with OADs
Gauge if interactions lead to collaborative learning

8. Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Methodology
Using$social$media$in$an$undergraduate$translation$class$–$a$case$study
Preliminary$questionnaire$X$Benoît$Guilbaud$X$2011
Section(2(–(Social(networking(sites(7(for!all!purposes!other!than!translation
3 feedback questionnaires assessing
2a.$Are$you$a$member$of$one$or$more$social$networking$sites$(Facebook,$Twitter,$Google+,$etc.)?$Which$one(s)?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2b.$If$you$answered$‘yes’$in$2a,$please$place$one$tick$per$line$in$the$following$table:
When using social
networking sites (not
for translation
purposes)
Never Rarely Sometimes Often
Very
often
Always
Not
applicable /
don’t know
expectations & satisfaction
I log in to my existing
member account.
I read other
members’
contributions and
pre / mid / post-study
existing discussions.
I post contributions
in response to other
members’ activity.
I engage in longer
discussions (more
than 2 posts) with
other members.
quantitative + open questions
When another
member has a
question, I try and
answer it.
Page 4 of 5

9. Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Methodology
Collection and analysis of
contributions to OADs using
Murphy’s collaboration model (2004)

10. Findings
Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012

11. Feedback
Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012

12. March 2012: “The platform was useful”
92%
Feedback
Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012

13. Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Feedback
“I think it works really well and is easy to access.”
“Working really well - maybe we could
have a similar thing on other modules.”
“It would be useful to have it for other courses.”
“Very useful.”

14. Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Feedback
“Not enough students use it for it to be
wholly effective. I think most students just
rely on the contributions of others.”
“It is just down to ourselves to make more of
an effort this term, which I will attempt to do.”
“Very useful. No improvements needed.”

15. Engagement
Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012

16. Number of contributions to forums
0
13
25
38
50
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Week number
11
12
13
14
Contributions per week
15
16
17
Ideal
18
Actual
Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012

17. Analysis of contributions
Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012

18. Murphy’s collaboration model
(2004)

19. Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Murphy’s collaboration model (2004)
A Producing shared artefacts
B Building shared goals and purposes
Collaboration
C Co-constructing shared perspectives and meanings
P Accommodating or reflecting the perspectives of others
I Articulating individual perspectives
S Social presence

20. Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Distribution of contributions per category (% of total)
A Producing shared artefacts
B Building shared goals and purposes
Collaboration
C Co-constructing shared perspectives and meanings
P Accommodating or reflecting the perspectives of others
I Articulating individual perspectives
S Social presence

21. Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Distribution of contributions per category (% of total)
A Producing shared artefacts 0%
B Building shared goals and purposes 0%
Collaboration
C Co-constructing shared perspectives and meanings 33%
P Accommodating or reflecting the perspectives of others 2%
I Articulating individual perspectives 23%
S Social presence 41%

22. Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Articulating individual perspectives (I)
A
Summarising or reporting on content without reference to
B 5%
the perspectives of others (S)
C
P
Statement of personal opinion or beliefs making no reference
I 18%
to perspectives of others (O)
S

23. Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Accommodating or reflecting the perspectives of others (P)
A
Coordinating perspectives (C) 1%
B
Introducing new perspectives (N) 0%
C
P Indirectly disagreeing with challenging statements made by
1%
another participant (I)
I
Directly disagreeing with challenging statements made by
1%
S another participant (D)

24. Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Co-constructing shared perspectives and meanings (C)
A Sharing advice (S) 0%
B Responding to questions (R) 11%
C Provoking thought and discussion (P) 0%
P Soliciting feedback (F) 9%
Posing rhetorical questions (Q) 0%
I
Asking for clarification/ elaboration (A) 10%
S Sharing information and resources (I) 4%

25. Identified issues
Picture by HckySo via flickr.com

26. Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Identified issues
Lack of a common goal
Little reference to perspectives of others
Near-absence of disagreements
50% of questions left unanswered
Near-absence of source referencing & sharing

27. Other issues
Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012

28. Interface
Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012

31. Impact of (non)assessment
Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012

32. Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Impact of assessment on number of contributions
Guilbaud, 2012 McNeilly & Zhok, 2012
Level: BA Level: MA
Blended learning Distance learning
Not assessed Assessed (10% of unit)
Feedback mostly positive (92%) Feedback “overwhelmingly positive”
Average no. of contributions Average no. of contributions
per student per week = 0,27 per student per week ≃1

33. Suggested model
!
Work in progress
Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012

34. © Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Suggested criteria for online collaboration
!
Work in progress

35. © Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Suggested criteria for online collaboration
Little reference to perspectives of others
Near-absence of disagreements
! Lack of a common goal
Work in progress
50% of questions left unanswered
Near-absence of source referencing & sharing

36. © Benoît Guilbaud, The University of Manchester (UK), 2012
Add your comments and suggestions at:
http://bit.ly/QYIozR
!
I think this could be improved by...

37. References
Couros, A., 2011. Why networked learning matters. Education in a Changing Environment (ECE) 6th International
Conference, Creativity and Engagement in Higher Education, 6-8 July 2011, University of Salford, Greater Manchester, UK.
McNeilly, E. & Zhok, A., 2012. The Online Discussion Board for Translation - An Undergraduate MFL Perspective for the
Study of Italian and Russian. In: LLAS: 7th e-learning symposium. University of Southampton, 26-27 January 2012.
Murphy, E., 2004. Recognising and promoting collaboration in an online asynchronous discussion. In: British Journal of
Educational Technology, 35(4) pp.421–431.
Wheeler, S., Yeomans, P. and Wheeler, D., 2008. The Good, the Bad and the Wiki: Evaluating Student Generated Content as
a Collaborative Learning Tool. In: British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(6), pp.987-995.
Wheeler, S., 2012. Digital Pedagogy: Content is a Tyrant, Context is King. In: NAACE 2012 Annual Conference, 9 March
2012, Leicester, United Kingdom.