Using Social Network Analysis to Sketch the Patterns of Interaction Among Nursing Students in a Blog Community

Web logs, or blogs have recently raised interest in the educational and research arena. However, the analysis of participants' behavioral patterns remains absent. The aim of this study was to use social network analysis to draw the patterns of 48 junior college nursing students' peer interactions in a blog community in Taiwan. The results showed that the density of interactions were different in terms of the participants with different grade-point-average background. The more active students in the blog community dominated discourse interaction. Nursing students with higher grade point average interacted mainly within their respective groups. The social network analysis helped to provide information on patterns of nursing students' interaction culture within a blog community.