Title: The learning management system discussion board as change agent

Authors: Eva Dobozy

Addresses: School of Education, Faculty of Humanities, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley WA 6102, Australia

Abstract: Taking the concept of 'learning design' as a starting point, this paper explores design decision for the construction of a joint Blackboard site with embedded discussion board for students studying the same unit in either on-campus or online mode. In particular, the discussion board was designed to function as a communal space and central meeting point, inviting the disparate groups to 'mingle' and engage in border crossing behaviours and informal ethics training. The discussion board design was approached from a 'built pedagogy' perspective in conjunction with learning design principles and was underpinned by a Bourdieuian dispositional theory of action standpoint. This paper will provide an argument for the need to break down artificial barriers between learners and will illustrate how discussion boards can be employed to function as change agents.

Keywords: learning design; built pedagogy; Bourdieu; dispositional theory of action; discussion boards; change agents; passive students; lurkers; communicative action; communal learning space; connectivism; 21st century learning; knowledge workers; learning management systems; LMS; informal ethics training; e-learning; electronic learning; learning communities; online communities; virtual communities; web based communities.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCEELL.2015.066550

International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, 2015 Vol.25 No.1, pp.103 - 115

Published online: 21 Jan 2015 *

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