Reconsidering online course discussions A case study

English (OpenAlex)

This study analyzed discussions in asynchronous and synchronous communication of a course given in the online Information Technologies Certificate Program, using Bales's Interaction Process Analysis model. This model focuses on Social Emotional (SE) and Task Oriented (TO) areas. The content analyses of asynchronous and synchronous communication transcripts showed that posted messages were related to both task- and social-oriented area, but mainly to task-oriented ones. The instructors' and participants' TO messages are mainly related with attempted answers to the questions. Instructors and the participants posted more positive reactions messages than negative reactions messages in the SE area. Also, semi-structured interviews with participants and instructors were conducted to investigate findings which revealed complementary results to the content analysis. Moreover, discussion list was used mainly by participants by asking questions or getting answers and instructors' guided chat sessions to discuss critical issues in course topics by asking questions.