Investigation of the effects of online group discussions on learners in terms of various variables:the case of Anadolu University Open Education Faculty

The main research topic of this study is the use of online group discussion technique in online learning environments. The aim of the study carried out in this context is that the learners of the different online group discussion technique used in online learning environments; to examine the effect on social presence levels, internal motivations and perceived learning levels. The theories of social constructivism and community of inquiry, which form the theoretical framework of the research, explain that learners in the learning environment should engage in social interactions with their neighbors and establish dialogues by collaborating with them. Therefore, to eliminate the sense of loneliness experienced by learners in online learning environments, it can be said that approaches such as the online group discussion technique that adopts social constructivism and research community theories should be applied. Within the scope of this study, in which 250 learners contributed, sequential explanatory models, one of the mixed research methods that use qualitative and quantitative approaches together, were used to obtain reliable results. In this context, the social availability scale and the intrinsic motivation scale determined within the scope of the study were applied as pre-test to the learners. Later, the learners who were assigned to the experimental and control groups without any selection completed the online learning processes where two different peer learning techniques were applied. Accordingly, the learners in the experimental group were divided into groups of up to 150 participants and used the discussion forum, accompanied by tutors in the role of guides who were assigned to each group individually during an education period (about 4 months). The learners in the control group, on the other hand, carried out the group discussion process by participating in the discussion form administered by a faculty member responsible for the discussion form of the related course, as the discussion forums used within Anadolu University Open Education Faculty are currently being carried out. No other tutorial intervention in the discussion form involving the control group. After the experiment vi process, the perceived learning scale along with the scales used at the beginning of the research was applied to the learners as a post-test after the learning process was completed. Following this process, the phenomenology method was followed and structured interviews were held with 5 learners who achieved the lowest and highest scores by looking at the average of the scales applied to the learners, and these two methods were integrated in the findings and conclusion-discussion section. The findings of the study show in which situations the group discussion technique, which is an effective teaching technique in online learning environments, is more efficient. Accordingly, in order for the group discussion technique to be effective in the online learning environments where large participants are reached, it can be said that the learners must first be divided into manageable groups. In addition to this situation, it has been observed that the learners who are divided into manageable groups should be effectively guided by the teachers. It has been concluded that the learners, who are included in the online discussion groups that are effectively guided by the teachers, have higher levels of social presence, intrinsic motivation and perceived learning levels. This situation is reflected in the views of the learners. At the same time, based on learning analytics, it was concluded that the experimental group, which is divided into manageable groups and effectively guided, has higher interaction times than the control group in the learning management system. In this context, it can be stated that the learning process should be designed appropriately in order for online discussion groups to be an effective teaching technique.