Abstract

Asynchronous discussion forums have been examined for their usefulness in promoting online learning among students. Recent research has shown that structured discussion forums are more effective for the improvement of critical thinking skills than are unstructured discussion forums. This study proposed a structure for discussion forums and investigated its impact on the improvement of collaborative skills by computer science students. In this study a survey design in the form of a questionnaire was used for measuring collaboration among students in the discussion forums and the improvement of their collaborative skills. One hundred twenty three students from two academic education colleges participated in seven fully online computer science courses. The main findings of the study showed that the students of the structured discussion forum significantly improved their collaborative skills in comparison to the students of the unstructured discussion forum. The findings of the study can contribute to the field of asynchronous online learning in providing a structure for discussion forums that has the potential to increase the effectiveness of online collaborative discussions and thereby the quality of online learning.