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Promoting Students’ Interaction and Higher Order Thinking in an Undergraduate Health Information Literacy Course at MUHAS
Author: Sydney E. Msonde

Abstract

Online learning environments have been adapted in higher education institutions around the world. However, it is not clear whether such adoption has yielded the expected effects on students’ interaction and higher order thinking. The purpose of this research was to investigate whether the use of online discussion forum would promote students’ interaction and higher-order thinking in an undergraduate health information literacy course. A total of 766 undergraduate students taking health information literacy course at MUHAS in a blended learning mode participated in the study. These students were engaged in five evidence-based practice topics using discussion forums - a moderate interactive learning environment as a pedagogical approach. Data included interviews and the content of online discussion forums. All qualitative data were analysed using ATLAS.ti software, Student t test was used to analyse the design effects realized over the three iterations and NetMiner 4- a social network analysis (SNA) software was used to analyze student interaction patterns. Results show that social interaction and students higher order thinking improved progressively over the three iterations. The changes in instructors’ pedagogical strategies and the actions of students to learn from each other contributed to the marked students’ social interactions and cognitive thinking. Thus, effective use of discussion forums in higher education can produce meaningful students learning interaction and higher order thinking.

Keywords: Interactive learning, higher order thinking, asynchronous design, social interaction,higher education     

Proceedings of  the 4th COTUL Scientific Conference, 7th-11th November, 2022