Critique Analysis of Research

Article 1: Meaningful Learning from Sustained Online Communication

Research Problem

The research problem identified by Abdallah and Albadri (2013) is how to promote active learning and critical thinking among adult learners and whether this can be done using online discussion boards. They situate their research within the understanding that to motivate adult learners they need to be engaged in activities to make them think, reflect and express their experiences and views (Abdallah & Albadri, 2013, p. 1). However, the problem is that engaging students through online discussion boards does not automatically guarantee meaningful learning, warranting the need for suitable assessment tools to measure students learning and performance (Abdallah & Albadri, 2013, p. 2). Thus, the research question that Abdallah and Albadri (2013) pose is this: how to evaluate students learning through the examination of the knowledge constructed by them to ensure that learning is occurring? (p.2).

The research problem is thus identified in the introduction of research study. It is essentially a problem of evaluation. The assumption of the authors is that online collaboration tools can provide a social constructivist tool to adult learners that will facilitate active learning and critical thinking. This assumption is supported by the literature reviewed in the studys literature review. The problem that arises from this review is the problem that the researchers address in order to provide better understanding of how teachers can be sure that online discussion boards facilitate active learning and critical thinking among adult learners. The researchers note that it is a problem of evaluation and their study shows that teachers wrongly evaluate these online discussion boards in terms of quality of learning when what they should be doing is devising their own experiential measures of evaluation.

Review of the Literature

In their review of the literature, the researchers develop a table that compares and contrasts what researchers in the past have concluded about the most common methods for measuring the success of online learning via discussion boards. However, the literature review is not extensive. It consists of 8 studies that serve to make up the table of comparisons. The key take-away from the comparison table is that adult learners require a way to be engaged that will facilitate deep and critical thinking. The authors then use a study by Henri (1992) to examine the difference between surface and in-depth processing. The literature review thus sets the stage for a discussion of the methodology applied in the research study.

Articles Contribution

What makes the article different from its predecessors is that it is an exploratory qualitative case study devised to determine whether students are gaining merely surface learning or deep learning that can motivate them to become self-learners and critical thinkers (Abdallah & Albadri, 2013, p. 3). Because the authors do not identify gaps in the literature that they want to address but rather only use the literature as a framework for situating their own case study, there is no clear understanding presented of why the study was needed or what contribution it makes to existing literature beyond the fact that methods of evaluating online discussion forums for adult learners may not be entirely appropriate.

Theoretical Model and Expected Signs

The authors use Knowles theory of andragogy as a framework for their research. This is clearly stated in the research studys introduction, and the theory is described in sufficient detail so that the reader can see its relevance and how and why it applies to the present study. The theory of andragogy is stated as being one that shows that adults learn differently from children because the learning process of adults is different as adults are more...

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