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Enhancing online participation in education: quarter century of research

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Abstract

Online participation in education is not a new research topic, but the field still lacks succinct account of approaches for enhancing online participation. This paper presents a systematic review of representative literature dealing with online participation in education. All subscribed resources in Web of Science were systematically searched with no time frame limit, and a total of 30 relevant studies published between 1996 and 2020 were selected. Proposed classification of a variety of approaches that evidently enhance and encourage online participation is based on actual empirical results and evidences reported in each analysed study. The key research findings revealed that different communication support (like discussion forums, blogs, and chats) and teaching strategies (like flipped learning, personalized communication, and gamification) were evidenced as predominantly employed approaches which proved to enhance online participation. Besides, facilitative strategies and tools (like online peer voting, wikis, and blogs) along with other support mechanisms (like social media and group awareness tools) were also regarded as valuable means of participation encouragement. Furthermore, in a great majority of analysed research, university students were found to be involved participants (in terms of data collection), while half of studies relied on Learning Management System as supporting technology. The conducted review exposed also a significant empirical evidence to support the argument that students’ learning performance could be enhanced by improving online participation. Further research directions and potential challenges are offered as well.

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Data availability

The data of the systematic review consist of articles published in journals and conferences. Many of these are freely available online, others can be accessed for a fee or through subscription.

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    Andrina Granić

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Granić, A. Enhancing online participation in education: quarter century of research. J. Comput. Educ. 10, 663–687 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40692-022-00238-8

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