Because I teach online, this paper was particularly relevant to me; I felt that the findings aligned with what I see on a daily basis in my teaching environment. The authors apply a mixed methodology to extract a higher level of understanding about how learning participation, perception, and student satisfaction differ across age and ethnic groups. In addition, they expand the study beyond what is typically seen as a study of one or two courses, to include 28 online courses.

Several significant results are presented.

First, older online learners often report a higher time commitment to posting, reading posts, and related online activities. However, the quality of the activity did not differ from the younger students who spent less time. The authors postulate that perhaps the younger students are more efficient in performing online tasks.

Second, minority students are less satisfied with an online learning environment, although they hold a positive perception of instructor interaction. This was partially due to the fact that they were exposed to instructors who had five or more years teaching Hispanics and Navajo learners online.

Third, students of differing ethnic backgrounds feel uneasy as a result of cross-cultural interactions that occur online. The study suggests that instructor intervention and control of this type of potential miscommunication is critical.

A key finding of this study is that, as students post online to discussion boards, there is little effort toward collaborative learning or reflection. The online learning participation seems to occur to fulfill requirements rather than to fully engage with other students. The authors suggest that this may be due to the stress of multitasking, or to the lack of confidence in minority learners. I suggest it might also be a result of the requirements of the universities, which probably emphasize that the grade is based on number of posts, not on how the posts encourage collaborative learning or reflection.