Analyzing the social networks of high- and low-performing students in online discussion forums

An ego network is an individual’s social netwrk relationships with core members. In this study, the ego network parameters in online discussion spaces of high- and low-performing students were compared. The extent to which students’ ego networks changed over the course were also analyzed. Participat...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ghadirian, Hajar, Salehi, Keyvan, Mohd Ayub, Ahmad Fauzi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Routledge 2018
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54113/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54113/1/Analyzing%20the%20social%20networks%20of%20high-%20and%20low-performing%20students%20in%20online%20discussion%20forums.pdf
_version_ 1848852457098051584
author Ghadirian, Hajar
Salehi, Keyvan
Mohd Ayub, Ahmad Fauzi
author_facet Ghadirian, Hajar
Salehi, Keyvan
Mohd Ayub, Ahmad Fauzi
author_sort Ghadirian, Hajar
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description An ego network is an individual’s social netwrk relationships with core members. In this study, the ego network parameters in online discussion spaces of high- and low-performing students were compared. The extent to which students’ ego networks changed over the course were also analyzed. Participation in 7 weeks of online discussions were analyzed for 12 high-performing students and 9 low-performing students. Results suggested that ego networks’ compositions of high- and low-performing students were significantly different. Particularly, high-performing students had denser ego networks and tended to exhibit a higher level of centralities than low-performing students. Results of network visualization indicated that high-performing students increased and kept their networks stable over the course in comparison to low-performing students, who had fragmented networks. Several networks’ change mechanisms for high- and low-performing groups are also identified and discussed.
first_indexed 2025-11-15T10:38:23Z
format Article
id upm-54113
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-15T10:38:23Z
publishDate 2018
publisher Routledge
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling upm-541132019-10-22T03:57:39Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54113/ Analyzing the social networks of high- and low-performing students in online discussion forums Ghadirian, Hajar Salehi, Keyvan Mohd Ayub, Ahmad Fauzi An ego network is an individual’s social netwrk relationships with core members. In this study, the ego network parameters in online discussion spaces of high- and low-performing students were compared. The extent to which students’ ego networks changed over the course were also analyzed. Participation in 7 weeks of online discussions were analyzed for 12 high-performing students and 9 low-performing students. Results suggested that ego networks’ compositions of high- and low-performing students were significantly different. Particularly, high-performing students had denser ego networks and tended to exhibit a higher level of centralities than low-performing students. Results of network visualization indicated that high-performing students increased and kept their networks stable over the course in comparison to low-performing students, who had fragmented networks. Several networks’ change mechanisms for high- and low-performing groups are also identified and discussed. Routledge 2018 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54113/1/Analyzing%20the%20social%20networks%20of%20high-%20and%20low-performing%20students%20in%20online%20discussion%20forums.pdf Ghadirian, Hajar and Salehi, Keyvan and Mohd Ayub, Ahmad Fauzi (2018) Analyzing the social networks of high- and low-performing students in online discussion forums. American Journal of Distance Education, 32 (1). pp. 27-42. ISSN 0892-3647; ESSN: 1538-9286 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08923647.2018.1412570 10.1080/08923647.2018.1412570
spellingShingle Ghadirian, Hajar
Salehi, Keyvan
Mohd Ayub, Ahmad Fauzi
Analyzing the social networks of high- and low-performing students in online discussion forums
title Analyzing the social networks of high- and low-performing students in online discussion forums
title_full Analyzing the social networks of high- and low-performing students in online discussion forums
title_fullStr Analyzing the social networks of high- and low-performing students in online discussion forums
title_full_unstemmed Analyzing the social networks of high- and low-performing students in online discussion forums
title_short Analyzing the social networks of high- and low-performing students in online discussion forums
title_sort analyzing the social networks of high- and low-performing students in online discussion forums
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54113/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54113/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54113/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54113/1/Analyzing%20the%20social%20networks%20of%20high-%20and%20low-performing%20students%20in%20online%20discussion%20forums.pdf