Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Community at a Distance: Understanding Student Interactions in Course-Based Online Discussion Forums

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Advances in Quantitative Ethnography (ICQE 2022)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1785))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 457 Accesses

Abstract

Online discussion forums are often used as a point of contact between students and their instructors for college courses. While asynchronous discourse has proven to be effective for learning, it remains unclear whether the student interactions manifest in socially constructive ways in addition to the cognitive benefits. In this paper, we consider the social dimension of student interactions within a Canvas course discussion forum. In particular, we examine the influence of instructional contexts to shape the mapping of different indicators that constitute social presence within the Community of Inquiry framework. For the analysis, data was collected from two instances of the same course: one taught in a hybrid format and the other in a remote format. The results of epistemic network analysis reveal that elements of social presence manifest differently in hybrid and fully remote modalities. The remote modality yielded more interconnected, balanced networks than their hybrid counterparts. The findings suggest that discourse from online discussions is conducive to collaborative inquiry through the mediation of social presence when pedagogical decisions work with the different instruction modalities to support student-to-student interaction.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Dunn, T.J., Kennedy, M.: Technology Enhanced Learning in higher education; motivations, engagement and academic achievement. Comput. Educ. 137, 104–113 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Dumford, A.D., Miller, A.L.: Online learning in higher education: exploring advantages and disadvantages for engagement. J. Comput. High. Educ. 30(3), 452–465 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-018-9179-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Ghazi-Saidi, L., Criffield, A., Kracl, C.L., McKelvey, M., Obasi, S.N., Vu, P.: Moving from face-to-face to remote instruction in a higher education institution during a pandemic: multiple case studies. IJTES 4, 370–383 (2020). https://doi.org/10.46328/ijtes.v4i4.169

  4. Brooks, A., Hardin, C., Scianna, J., Berland, M., Legault, L.H.: Approaches to transitioning computer science classes from offline to online. In: Proceedings of the 26th ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, vol. 1, pp. 81–87. Association for Computing Machinery, New York (2021)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Gillett-Swan, J.: The challenges of online learning: supporting and engaging the isolated learner. J. Learn. Des. 10, 20–30 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Crawford, J., et al.: COVID-19: 20 countries’ higher education intra-period digital pedagogy responses. J. Appl. Learn. Teach. 3, 1–20 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Akyol, Z., Garrison, D.R.: The development of a community of inquiry over time in an online course: understanding the progression and integration of social, cognitive teaching presence. J. Asynch. Learn. Netw. 12, 3–22 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Rajab, K.D.: The effectiveness and potential of E-learning in war zones: an empirical comparison of face-to-face and online education in Saudi Arabia. IEEE Access 6, 6783–6794 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2800164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Emami-Naeini, P., Francisco, T., Kohno, T., Roesner, F.: Understanding privacy attitudes and concerns towards remote communications during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2021)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Zhai, Y., Du, X.: Addressing collegiate mental health amid COVID-19 pandemic. Psychiatry Res. 288, 113003 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Ali, W.: Online and remote learning in higher education institutes: a necessity in light of COVID-19 pandemic. HES. 10, 16 (2020). https://doi.org/10.5539/hes.v10n3p16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Perets, E.A., et al.: Impact of the emergency transition to remote teaching on student engagement in a non-STEM undergraduate chemistry course in the time of COVID-19. J. Chem. Educ. 97, 2439–2447 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00879

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Edyburn, D.: Transforming student engagement in COVID-19 remote instruction: a research perspective. Educ. Tech. Res. Dev. 69(1), 113–116 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-020-09919-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Katz, V.S., Jordan, A.B., Ognyanova, K.: Digital inequality, faculty communication, and remote learning experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic: a survey of U.S. undergraduates. PLoS ONE 16, e0246641 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246641

  15. Sun, Z., Lin, C.-H., Wu, M., Zhou, J., Luo, L.: A tale of two communication tools: discussion-forum and mobile instant-messaging apps in collaborative learning. Br. J. Edu. Technol. 49, 248–261 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12571

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Aloni, M., Harrington, C.: Research based practices for improving the effectiveness of asynchronous online discussion boards. Scholarsh. Teach. Learn. Psychol. 4, 271–289 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1037/stl0000121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Annand, D.: Social presence within the community of inquiry framework. Int. Rev. Res. Open Distrib. Learn. 12, 40–56 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Thomas, M.J.W.: Learning within incoherent structures: the space of online discussion forums. J. Comput. Assist. Learn. 18, 351–366 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1046/j.0266-4909.2002.03800.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Wozniak, H., Silveira, S.: Online discussions: Promoting effective student to student interaction (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Venton, B.J., Pompano, R.R.: Strategies for enhancing remote student engagement through active learning. Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 413(6), 1507–1512 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-021-03159-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Flener-Lovitt, C., Bailey, K., Han, R.: Using structured teams to develop social presence in asynchronous chemistry courses. J. Chem. Educ. 97, 2519–2525 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00765

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. John-Steiner, V., Mahn, H.: Sociocultural approaches to learning and development: a vygotskian framework. Educ. Psychol. 31, 191–206 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Garrison, D.R., Anderson, T., Archer, W.: Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: computer conferencing in higher education. Internet High. Educ. 2, 87–105 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Rourke, L., Anderson, T., Garrison, D.R., Archer, W.: Assessing social presence in asynchronous text-based computer conferencing. J. Dist. Educ./Revue de l’ducation Distance 14, 50–71 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Ferreira, M.A.D., Ferreira Mello, R., Kovanovic, V., Nascimento, A., Lins, R., Gasevic, D.: NASC: Network analytics to uncover socio-cognitive discourse of student roles. In: LAK22: 12th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference, pp. 415–425 (2022)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Rolim, V., Ferreira, R., Kovanovic, V., Gasevic, D.: Analysing social presence in online discussions through network and text analytics. In: 19th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, pp. 163–167. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Garrison, D.R., Cleveland-Innes, M., Fung, T.S.: Exploring causal relationships among teaching, cognitive and social presence: student perceptions of the community of inquiry framework. Internet High. Educ. 13, 31–36 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Rourke, L., Kanuka, H.: Learning in communities of inquiry: a review of the literature (Winner 2009 Best Research Article Award). Int. J. E-Learn. Dist. Educ./Revue internationale du e-learning et la formation à distance 23, 19–48 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Hutto, C., Gilbert, E.: Vader: a parsimonious rule-based model for sentiment analysis of social media text. In: Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Mohammad, S., Salameh, M., Kiritchenko, S.: How translation alters sentiment. J. Artif. Intell. 55, 95–130 (2016)

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  31. Shaffer, D.W., Collier, W., Ruis, A.R.: A tutorial on epistemic network analysis: analyzing the structure of connections in cognitive, social, and interaction data. Learn. Anal. 3, 9–45 (2016). https://doi.org/10.18608/jla.2016.33.3

  32. Marquart, C., Hinojosa, C., Swiecki, Z., Eagan, B., Shaffer, D.W.: Epistemic network analysis [Online software]. Epistemic Analytics (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  33. Shaffer, D.W.: Quantitative Ethnography. CathCart, Madison (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  34. Shaffer, D.W., Ruis, A.R.: How we code. In: Ruis, A.R., Lee, S.B. (eds.) ICQE 2021. CCIS, vol. 1312, pp. 62–77. Springer, Cham (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67788-6_5

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  35. Siebert-Evenstone, A.L., Arastoopour, G., Collier, W., Swiecki, Z., Ruis, A., Shaffer, D.W.: In search of conversational grain size: modelling semantic structure using moving stanza windows. J. Learn. Anal. 4, 123–139 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  36. Rovai, A.P., Jordan, H.: Blended learning and sense of community: a comparative analysis with traditional and fully online graduate courses. IRRODL 5, (2004). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v5i2.192

  37. Waters, J., Gasson, S.: Social engagement in an online community of inquiry. (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  38. Aderibigbe, S., Dias, J., Abraham, M.: Understanding issues affecting students’ commitment to online discussion forums in undergraduate courses (2021)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Jennifer Scianna

  2. Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Monique Woodard

  3. University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA

    Beatriz Galarza

  4. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Seiyon Lee

  5. University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Rogers Kaliisa

  6. Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA

    Hazel Vega Quesada

Authors
  1. Jennifer Scianna
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Monique Woodard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Beatriz Galarza
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Seiyon Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Rogers Kaliisa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Hazel Vega Quesada
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jennifer Scianna .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Crina Damşa

  2. Drexel University School of Education, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Amanda Barany

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Scianna, J., Woodard, M., Galarza, B., Lee, S., Kaliisa, R., Quesada, H.V. (2023). Community at a Distance: Understanding Student Interactions in Course-Based Online Discussion Forums. In: Damşa, C., Barany, A. (eds) Advances in Quantitative Ethnography. ICQE 2022. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1785. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31726-2_19

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31726-2_19

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-31725-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-31726-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation