Collaborative Learning of Students in Online Discussion Forums: A Social Network Analysis Perspective
Many courses are currently delivered using Course Management Systems (CMS). Discussion forums within these systems provide the basis for collaborative learning. In this chapter, we present the use of Social Network Analysis (SNA) to analyze the structure
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Collaborative Learning of Students in Online Discussion Forums: A Social Network Analysis Perspective Reihaneh Rabbany, Samira Elatia, Mansoureh Takaffoli and Osmar R. Zaïane
Abstract Many courses are currently delivered using Course Management Systems (CMS). Discussion forums within these systems provide the basis for collaborative learning. In this chapter, we present the use of Social Network Analysis (SNA) to analyze the structure of interactions between the students in these forums. Various metrics are introduced for ranking and determining roles, while clustering and temporal analysis techniques are applied to study the student communications, the forming of groups, the role changes, as well as scrutinizing the content of the exchanged messages. Our approach provides the instructor with better means to assess the participation of students by (1) identification of participants’ roles; (2) dynamic visualization of interactions between the participants and the groups they formed; (3) presenting hierarchy of the discussed topics; and (4) tracking the evolution and growth of these patterns and roles over time. The applicability of the proposed analyses are illustrated through several case studies.
Keywords Social network analysis Student participation assessment monitoring Content summarization Discussion forums
Student
Abbreviations CSCL CMS
Computer supported collaborative learning Course management systems
R. Rabbany (&) M. Takaffoli O. R. Zaïane Department of Computing Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada e-mail: [email protected] M. Takaffoli e-mail: [email protected] O. R. Zaïane e-mail: [email protected] S. Elatia Campus Saint Jean, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada e-mail: [email protected]
A. Peña-Ayala (ed.), Educational Data Mining, Studies in Computational Intelligence 524, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-02738-8_16, Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
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MOOC SNA
R. Rabbany et al.
Massive open online course Social network analysis
16.1 Introduction There is a growing number of courses delivered using e-learning environments both using computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) tools: such as Moodle, WebCT and Blackboard, or massive open online course (MOOC) delivery systems, such as Coursera, Udacity, and EdX. Online asynchronous discussions in these environments play an important role in collaborative learning processes of students. Through interaction, students become more actively engaged in sharing information and perspectives with each other [1]. These elearning course adds-on environment provide a fertile ground for independent learning and a wealth of information that teachers can use to enhance teaching and learning. More than four decades now, several studies have investigated and emphasized the benefits of collaborative learning in general. CSCL, in particular, offers a unique media for collaborative learning activities, where peer and independent learning as well as peer feedback are thriving, i.e. threaded discussion
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