Student perceptions of participation opportunities in online synchronous tutorials

From a sociocultural constructivist perspective of learning, dialogic interactions between students and tutors support meaning negotiation that leads to knowledge construction. In online educational contexts, interaction between learning parties is largely facilitated by CMC technologies. Most research has focused on asynchronous CMC modes which are held to offer learners an ever-present window for ‘speaking’. Less is known about the impact of synchronous CMC modes on participation opportunities in the learning process. Web survey results from two online tutorial groups indicated different perceptions of the availability and use of participation opportunities during chat tutorials. The survey revealed common factors that motivated and inhibited participation, which subsequently presented pedagogical implications for the design of online collaborative learning activities.