An Assessment of the Undergraduates’ Participation in the Online Discussion Forum

Abstract

The paper examined the undergraduates’ participation in the online discussion forum at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. A total of 195 undergraduate students purposively selected from the Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences constituted the sample of the study. Through a survey design, questionnaire was administered to gather data from the respondents. Four research questions were developed and answered by the study. The results indicated that majority of the respondents are participating in the online forum and they are dully committed to it. Four prominent pattern of participation were identified. These are Socratic questioning, sharing of personal opinion and experiences, brainstorming and reaction posting. Similarly, considerable number of respondents usually read and responds to all posts received. The results confirmed encouragement of intellectual support in terms of sharing of knowledge and ideas between participants as part of the most common benefits. Incessant power outage and time factor based on tight schedule were identified as part of the problems participants encounter in the online forum. To improve students’ participation in the online forum, the University authority should provide enough free Internet facilities/ outlets within the university community just as it is done in developed countries and some part of Africa especially South Africa.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n7p333