January 20, 2004
Participation in on-line courses - how essential is it?
International Forum of Educational Technology & Society
Moderator:
Bill Williams
Setubal Polytechnic, Portugal
Introduction...
'Groups of learners on online courses, in common with other online communities, are generally found to comprise both highly participative individuals and those who appear to contribute little to group discussions but who consider that they are actively following the course and learning. I use the neutral term ROPs (Read Only Participants) for the latter rather than the commonly used lurker which carries a suggestion of deviant behaviour.
The questions to be addressed in this discussion are to do with issues such as if ROPs on an online course are pursuing an inappropriate learning strategy on their part and, if so, what could be done by course designers and moderators to encourage learner participation.'