Virtual Classrooms and the Discussion Forum: A Net Benefit for Business Students
Dr. Caroline Akhras

Abstract
A serendipitous turning point in education may be in the teaching/learning outcomes of online collaborative work. It is held that collaboration alone could signal the most meaningful insight as collaboration is social, dynamic, and multidimensional. Advanced technology opens broad teaching/learning opportunities though concomitantly providing divergent expectations concerning the quality of E-Learning. Many educators are using blended-learning and developing creative methods to integrate technology. Virtual classrooms and discussion forums are collaborative tools available on Course Management Systems widely used in Higher Education. As a practitioner-researcher, I hold that for graduate-level business students a collaborative process of knowledge-building ought to be integrated into their traditional program through Virtual Classrooms and/or Discussion Forums. The purpose of this research is to assess whether performance improved when graduate students developed their course assignment using collaborative learning tools. Two critical components were addressed: (a) collaborative performance on-line and (b) student-teacher interaction. Case assessment was conducted. Implications and recommendations were made.

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