Asynchronous discussion forums are a staple of most online classrooms. But are they effective in encouraging meaningful student engagement, community building, and empowerment in dialogue and community building? Or do students perceive them simply as “one-and-done,” similar to assignment submissions?

This exploratory descriptive survey study conducted with online higher education faculty constitutes a follow-up to the interview study conducted with faculty and presented to ICERI 2024. The specific purpose of the study was to identify faculty perceptions regarding the following dimensions of asynchronous discussion forums:
1) frequency and timing of student engagement,
2) quality of student engagement, and
3) potential for fostering meaningful student learning community.

The survey contained 13 rating items (always, frequently, sometimes, and never) and four open-ended questions regarding various aspects of asynchronous discussion forums. A total of 27 online faculty completed this survey.

Findings included faculty perceptions that such asynchronous online discussion forums can be an effective way to foster peer-to-peer learning. Students have made substantive responses to meaningfully engaging discussion prompts and to posts made by their peers. Engaging open-ended discussion questions as well as continual instructor engagement is key to such student involvement in discussion forums. At the same time, some consistent concerns regarding asynchronous discussion forums were also expressed. They include students perceiving discussion post requirements as a "one-and-done" check-off item, and therefore not returning to the forums to engage continually with the learning community (peers and instructor). Other problems included students waiting until the last minute to make the minimum number of required posts ("the 11:55 PM phenomenon") and making superficial responses to classmates consisting of little more than "I agree/I disagree" or "Good job."

Recommendations emerging from this survey study include researching alternatives to asynchronous discussion forums to further elicit meaningful student engagement as well as evidence of higher-order learning; a follow-up study identifying parallel student perceptions of the value of such asynchronous discussion forums to their learning activities (in progress); assessing the efficacy of various approaches to managing discussion forums in facilitating student learning; and researching the impact of coaching students on how to maximize their peer community engagement via discussion forum participation (also in progress). The conclusion is that asynchronous discussion forums should not be eliminated due to their potential for optimum student engagement when supplemented with active faculty involvement and adequate student preparation to leverage these forums as a springboard for higher-order thinking and collaboration with their peer learners.

Keywords: Technology, online learning, asynchronous discussion forums, student learning community.