"I hope this goes somewhere": Evaluation of an online discussion group

Abstract

This article outlines the application of a particular model of content analysis (Henri, 1992;1993) to the evaluation of an online discussion group. The discussion group was part of the learning environment for a subject of the Graduate Certificate in Higher Education offered by the Centre for Higher Education at Monash University, Australia. Henri's model focuses on the level of participation and interaction in the discussion group, as well analysing the content of the messages according to a cognitive view of learning. Overall, the analysis confirmed the success of the discussion group, and provided a useful conceptual lens with which to study the online environment.

Ações participativas em uma comunidade virtual de enfermagem

“…Sendo assim, foi desenvolvida uma adaptação das definições da classificação proposta pelos citados autores 11,16 de modo a garantir maior adequação às características da interação no cenário pesquisado.…”

“…O procedimento de análise permitiu a verificação de nove categorias de ações participativas, sendo que três destas seguiram adaptação de estudo anterior 11,16 e as demais foram propostas pela primeira autora. Estas categorias que tiveram os descritores produzidos pela primeira autora serão descritas no capítulo de apresentação e discussão dos resultados.…”

Knowledge and Discourse Matters

“…Studies have mainly followed DA in the Sociolinguistics tradition, using linguistics/content analysis methods to study texts quantitatively and qualitatively (e.g., McKenzie and Murphy, 2000;Montero, Watts and Garcia-Carbonnell, 2007;Marra, Moore and Klimczak, 2004), although there is a call for more attention to be focused on the latter (Schrire, 2006). While there are some synergies between the version(s) of DA adopted in Sociolinguistics and those in critical social psychology, there are differences resulting in criticism.…”

“…Research in CMC tends to be clustered around academic sites (e.g., McKenzie and Murphy, 2000;Montero Watts and Garcia-Carbonnell , 2007;Marra, Moore and Klimczak, 2004;Lester and Paulus, 2011;Schrire, 2006;Paulus, 2007;Veerman and Veldhuis-Diermanse, 2001;Jordan, Schallert, Park, Lee, Chaing and Cheng, 2012); online support groups for people with physical or mental health issues such as eating disorders (e.g., Stommel and Koole, 2010;Giles, 2006), self-harming (e.g., Smithson, Sharkey, Hewis, Jones, Emmens, Ford and Owens 2011) and depression (e.g., Morrow, 2006;Chirrey, 2011); and blogs (e.g., Myers, 2010). Appearing less frequently as a focus of research are sites such as product review sites (e.g., Otterbacher, 2011) and professional practice forums (e.g., Crane, 2011;.…”

Vol. 2, No. 3, September 2009

“…Asynchronous electronic exchanges seem to foster the building of a learning community, where participants offer each other support and praise (Cole, Raffier, Rogan, & Schleicher, 1998;McKenzie & Murphy, 2000;). The body of findings illustrates how "CMC creates the opportunity for a group of people to construct knowledge together, thus linking reflection and interaction" (Warschauer, 1997, p. 473).…”