Analysing student engagement with learning and tutoring activities in networked learning communities: a multi-method approach

The aim of this paper is to study the nature of teaching and learning processes in two Networked Learning Communities (NLCs). The study undertakes empirical work using a multi-method approach in order to triangulate and contextualise our findings and enrich our understanding of the student participation in these NLCs. We apply Social Network Analysis (SNA) to visualise the social structure of the NLC, Content Analysis (CA) to identify learning and teaching processes and Context Analysis (CxA) to study students' personal experiences and intentions. The paper reports some of the current findings of this work and discusses future prospects. This paper is part of a continuing international study that is investigating networked collaborative learning among a community of learners engaged in a master's programme in e-learning.