Abstract

PEDRO, Neuza  and  RAZERA, Fernanda. THE INFLUENCE OF THE TUTOR'S ROLE IN THE INTERACTION IN DISCUSSION FORUMS: A STUDY IN DISTANCE EDUCATION BASED ON SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS. e-Curriculum [online]. 2018, vol.16, n.2, pp.467-493. ISSN 1809-3876.  https://doi.org/10.23925/1809-3876.2018v16i2p467-493.

Online forums can be described as one of the digital educational tools mostly used on distance education for stimulating the debate, collaboration and peer knowledge sharing. In these environments, tutor can play a passive or active role, according to course’s pedagogical design. This study aimed to compare the configuration of the social networks formed by the interactions developed on online forums, considering tutor’s different roles. This research was based upon the 1586 interactions established by the participants of 16 online forums of a post-graduate program of a Portuguese higher education institution. The selected forums were divided into two categories based on tutor’s active or passive role. Social network analysis was chosen as data analysis method. The results point out to the existence of differences in students’ communication according to the changes in tutor’s role which provide relevant inputs for understanding the behavior of online learning networks.

Keywords : Social Network Analysis; E-learning; Distance Education; Online Forums; Online Tutoring.

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