The Role Of Learners' Academic Background On E-Learning: An Empirical Study On The Use Of Discussion Forum

Nowadays, instructional technologies are the enabler for educators to have more choices in course planning, course design, and lecturing. These technologies not only strengthen the communication between instructors and learners, but also let the learners get an easily access their course materials at anytime and from anywhere. As a result, many educational institutes, including formal universities and online educational service providers, are now using E-learning technologies to deliver their courses as pure online courses or hybrid courses. In this research, the effectiveness of using online discussion forum in teaching is evaluated based on five teaching criteria related to knowledge construction process: learner’s motivation, learner’s independence, learner-learner interaction, learner-instructor interaction, and learner’s satisfaction. The author’s findings indicated that IT majors are more positive towards the use of online discussion forum in E-learning. The Role Of Learners’ Academic Background On E-Learning: An Empirical Study On The Use Of Discussion Forum