Instructor Modeling and Online Question Prompts for Supporting Peer-Questioning during Online Discussion

This study investigates how the combination of instructor modeling and question prompts for peer-questioning influences students' online questioning and answering activities. Fourteen students in a turfgrass management online class at a large land-grant university participated in two three-week sessions of online discussion. Two randomly selected small groups ( n = 6) received question prompts and instructor modeling while the other two discussion groups ( n = 8) did not. Their online interactions (frequency, length, and type of questions) and selected follow-up telephone interviews were analyzed. The results of the descriptive statistics of students' online activities and the interview reveal that the instructor's participation in online discussion played a critical role in modeling students' questioning activities and in facilitating students' continuous use of the given online peer questioning guidance. Thus, the combination of instructor modeling and question prompts is more effective than providing either strategy alone. The results are discussed from the viewpoint of distributed scaffolding.