Abstract

This study reports on the pedagogical implications of using the Blackboard feature Discussion Board (DB) to improve students’ learning in higher education. The study sample included three sections of female students – a total of 155 students – in an undergraduate course at an international university in Saudi Arabia. The impact of using DB on first-year female students’ achievement was assessed through quantitative analyses of pre- and post-tests. The effect of DB on students’ attitudes was ascertained by means of qualitative analyses of students’ responses to a post-treatment questionnaire. The results indicated that students in the experimental group showed a greater degree of improvement in test scores than those in the control group, and that posting to Blackboard was positively related to improvement among those in the control group but not among those in the experimental group.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.