The Contents of an Online Discussion Forum: An Analysis

The online discussion forum is a common means of learning in CSCL, because participants can use it to share or exchange their understandings, viewpoints, comments, or critiques of a certain task or the problem to be solved. The results of analysing the contents of online discussion forums can be used for examining the characteristics of online discussions. 20 students registered in the course "Computer in Education" and were organized into 5 groups. They were engaged in a blended learning process including a classroom-based learning setting and a web-based learning setting. They posted their viewpoints, comments, suggestions, or understandings to the discussion forums in WebCL, a virtual learning environment. These postings were analyzed according to Garrison et al.'s model and the results reveal the characteristics of students' online discussion.