STUDENTS‘ DECISION STEPS IN META-COGNITIVE LEARNING IN FREE ONLINE GROUPS (METAL-FROG): A Case Study

What prompts the students to respond in online dialogic discussion? Why some students
chose to fall out? This case study through the lens of phenomenography observation
attempts to explain the five decision steps of students to respond in Meta-cognitive
Learning in Free Online Groups (MetaL-FrOG) discussion. It presents a part of a research
project by the name of Triarchy Perspective on Meta-cognitive Learning in Free Online
Groups. The research setting was online learner community on the platform of Free
Online Group web intended for post-graduate students enrolled for the paper Psychology
of Learning in Faculty of Education, University Malaya, Malaysia. Preliminary study
revealed three factors contributed to MetaL-FrOG success: Motivation, Cognitive
Resources and Pro-learning Behaviors.
This paper only presents a part of the findings under the Pro-Learning Behaviors Subtheory.
We found striking similarities between the model proposed by Latane & Darley
(1971), Five Essential Steps to a Pro-social Response in an Emergency, and our research
subject. The model which explains the course of a pro-social decision was borrowed and
modified as surrogate theory to explain the online discussion response of the students.
The insights help educators to better understand what holds students back from fruitful
online peer diologic discussion.