Tnhancing the off Campus Students' Reading Comprehension through Asynchronous Forum

As the Internet is widely available in Malaysia due to improved bandwidth, students presently read a lot more of online materials, which are known as hypermedia, in order to complete their assignments. This is more so if the students are off campus students who have to read the course materials, which are uploaded onto the institution's website, and have little opportunity to attend face-to-face tutorials. This study explored to what extend asynchronous forum enhances the off campus students' reading comprehension when reading life sciences hypermedia. This is a case study. As part of the students' assignments, they need to discuss two questions via the online forum. The two questions posed to them were supposed to assist them in developing fuller comprehension of the two units in the course materials. The students' feedback confirmed that in the process of discussing the answers in the asynchronous forum, their comprehension level is enhanced. This paper discusses how the asynchronous forum could enhance learners' reading comprehension. The pedagogical implications are also highlighted in this paper.