Students' Interactions in Online Asynchronous Discussion Forum: A Social Network Analysis

Existing learning management system (LMS) provide limited information regarding the communication structure of group, level of participation, identifying who is central actors and other structural characteristics of the discussion forum. The instructors of an online class are not provided with those structural indicators that would allow them to evaluate the participation and interaction among students in their classes. In many instances, only statistical information, such as frequency of postings is encompassed, but this is not a very useful measurement for the interaction activity. This paper discusses the analysis of students' interactions in an online asynchronous discussion forum (OADF) using social network analysis (SNA) method. The visual objects that represent these online interactions are demonstrated and explained. The findings showed that social network analysis provide more meaningful students' interactions analysis in term of information of communication structures. This approach can be used by instructors to assess social interactions in terms of network structure parameters.