Abstract
In this chapter, we present a study that examines the following question: Under what conditions do students prefer peer to instructor facilitation of an online discussion? The results of our study suggested that students preferred peer facilitation because: (a) they feel more comfortable in voicing their views, (b) they are able to take greater ownership of the discussion, (c) they are able to have practical hands-on experience of facilitating a discussion, and (d) that peer facilitation allowed participants to reflect deeper on other students’ ideas that came up in the discussions. On the other hand, students wanted the instructor to act as the facilitator: (a) when the discussion needed to be kept on track, (b) when conflicts arose in the discussion and needed resolution, and (c) when the topic of discussion was new or profound and required expert knowledge.
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Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.
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© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, New York
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Hew, K.F., Cheung, W.S. (2012). Peer Versus Instructor: Under What Conditions do Students Prefer?. In: Student Participation in Online Discussions. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2370-6_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2370-6_8
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Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-2369-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-2370-6
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