Foreign language

The Use of Asynchronous/online Discussions for Reflective Practices

Online discussion forums have been used for reflective practices in the last decade and several studies conducted in the field of teacher and health education indicate both positive and negative results about their effectiveness and content.

Lee-Baldwin (2005) conducted a study with pre-service teachers of science on the use of asynchronous discussion forums (ADFs) during the science teaching methods course to explore the group dynamics that facilitate reflective thinking. The results of the study were promising; when participants were given sufficient time, social group dynamics in ADFs helped teachers engage in in-depth reflective thinking. Similarly, Romano (2008) conducted a study on the use of discussion forums to promote interaction between novice teachers. The results indicate that teachers were involved in both high and low levels of interaction; moreover, their writings helped them benefit from each other in terms of engaging in reciprocal reflection by sharing their opinions and advice. Abodeeb-Gentile, Courtney and Pedro (2012) also examined the use of reflective strategies on pre-service teachers experiences in a language arts class via online discussions The findings of the study showed that participants engaged in reflective strategies such as clarifying, enhancing, providing evidence, challenging and differentiating thinking. In considering the findings of the studies, it can be concluded that online discussion platforms can be regarded as effective tools in reflective practices of pre-service and novice teachers of different fields.

Jones and Ryan (2014) conducted a recent study to see whether online discussion forums can be applied as a useful tool to practice reflection for pre-service teachers of primary and secondary education. In a structured discussion forum, researchers utilized blogs, which did not include guiding threads, and an online discussion platform in which researchers directed threaded discussion topics by guiding the participants to reflect on their practicum experiences in relation to the theoretical information of their studies. The study indicated that participants strongly preferred participating in blogs. The guidance of the researchers did not contribute to deepening the reflective practices of teacher candidates. Therefore, the study

suggested the need for researchers in the field to find better ways to engage teachers in reflective practices, especially in online platforms.

In contrast to the findings of the previous studies, other research conducted in the field suggests a less positive result in the effective use of asynchronous discussions. In Tsang‟s (2011) research, first year students of oral health and dentistry were connected with their third year peers via online group discussions to enhance reflection. The results of the study indicated that slightly more than half of the participants engaged in reflection, with the third year students especially perceiving the discussions as educationally valuable.
Given these studies, it is important to mention the application of reflective practices via online asynchronous discussion forums, especially in teacher education, is relatively new since few studies exist in literature. Moreover, there is little evidence and agreement about their successful utilization on teachers‟ reflective processes.