Article Summary: A Case for Student Communication In the article, “Read-only Participants: a case for student communication in online classes,” the authors, Nagel, Blignaut, and Cronje present a study about how a student’s online participation and discussion activity related to their learning (2009).A mixed methodology approach was used during the investigation to help determine student’s behavior amongst their peers and their assimilation into the learning community (Nagel, Blignaut, & Cronje, 2009).
Research Methodologies The study was initiated to determine the correlation between a student’s participation in an online learning environment and their final course outcome, along with the impact made on the learning community as a whole (Nagel et al., 2009). It suggests that students who participate often through online discussions, creating open relationships with their classmates see higher success rates. Those who are “invisible students” (Nagel et al., 2009, p.48) not only have lower completion rates, but they hinder the creation of learning communities and do not add to the development of the current discussion. With increasing online degree programs, previous research has been conducted to look at dropout rates, facilitator and student participation in the online community, “lurking” (Nagel et al., 2009, p.38), and passive learning. All of which have contributed to the culmination of the current study by Nagel, Blignaut and Cronje.
This study was conducted at the graduate level during an eight week course; it encompassed 22 students from different locations with ages ranging from about 30 to 50 (Nagel et al., 2009). Every week students had to complete criteria and data was collected from their participation. Students were required to research literature, post reflections to discussion boards, create peer reviews and artifacts, and complete group work (Nagel et al., 2009). Throughout the process, students received feedback from peers along with feedback and assistance from the facilitator. With numerous documents, notes from the facilitator and different perspectives the research is validated (Nagel et al., 2009). Another factor contributing to the reliability of the study was that the researchers were in fact the facilitators of the course and observed throughout the process to guarantee its reliability (Nagel et al., 2009). It seems that all aspects of the researchers’ hypothesis were examined during the research. The study uses many different factors including blog posts, discussion posts, quizzes, essays and “hits” (Nagel et al., 2009, p.42) to determine a student’s qualitative and quantitative participation within the online learning environment.
Findings
According to the data and corresponding graphs from the eight-week study, it is evident that the more a student participates within the online learning environment, the higher their class completion rate is on average. Although the data was strong, it was duly noted that many exceptions occurred in this cohort due to its diversity among the learners and it would be difficult to make individual predictions (Nagel et al., 2009). The authors found strong evidence suggesting when students participate more frequently, contribute often, reply to others and become a part of the learning community they are more likely to complete the course (Nagel et al., 2009).
Implications
In turn, those students who are less likely to communicate, participate and reply are not as successful. Due to minimal logins and less interactions with other students and the facilitator, they do not receive the “crucial support” (Nagel et al., 2009, p.49) needed to be successful.
Conclusion
The results from this study are useful for multiple applications. Another university could use this study as baseline data to create their online community and the requirements necessary to produce a student environment where everyone is successful. It would also be appropriate for facilitators of online classes to use the recommendations from the study to create learning communities that are guided by a facilitator who gives critiques, feedback and encouragement on a regular basis (Nagel et al., 2009). An extension of this study should be conducted that encompasses more students in each demographic area from different graduate programs. The current study had a number of exceptions due to the vast diversity in students (Nagel et al., 2009). Overall, this study has found that when students do not participate frequently in the online classroom environment they are more likely to be unsuccessful, disrupt the online community and could ultimately hinder other’s education (Nagel et al., 2009).

Reference
Nagel, L., Blignaut, A. S., & Cronje, J. C. (2009). Read-only participants: a case for student communication in online classes. Interactive Learning Environments, 17(1), 37-51. doi:10.1080/10494820701501028