Assessment of online learners' performance using Effective Note-taking in Chat in Online Learning (ENCO)

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of providing note-taking functionality to online chat logs on students enrolled in graduate online learning courses. This study provided participants in online learning courses with a new tool called Effective Note-taking in Chat in Online Learning (ENCO) that enables the participants to select any message lines in chat logs individually, save the lines, and retrieve the lines. This study examined users’ test scores and time taken to complete the tests provided in order to explore user learning performance and effectiveness.;The experiment was conducted across two consecutive semesters using volunteers enrolled in six online courses of master’s program in library and information science. After a pilot test with a focus group interview, a main experiment was conducted successfully in the following semester. The results of the main experiments were analyzed to examine whether ENCO improved learners’ performance, effectiveness, and satisfaction using chat logs in online classes.;Data from a total of forty-seven online graduate students were analyzed in the main study. The data included test scores and time spent to complete the tests. The results from this study indicate that ENCO use in one course was found to have significantly improved the test scores, and to have decreased test completion time in the other course. The results from focus group interviews showed that majority of the participants in the focus group evaluated ENCO as a helpful tool. Also, four categories of the test questions were analyzed by Bloom’s Taxonomy. The results of the questions analysis imply that ENCO use in the categorized question analysis could be viewed from different perspective.;Overall, ENCO was found to have potential for improving students learning performance, effectiveness, and satisfaction in online learning. The results of performance testing suggest that adapting a new tool or software to online learning systems may improve online learners’ performance. More in-depth research about synchronous communication tools that include textual chat and audio/video enabled chat is recommended.