Analyzing Students' Conversations In Chat Room Discussion Groups

When I turned to asynchronous delivery of content for a recent educational research and evaluation course, I wanted to supplement threaded discussions with social interactions to better support meaningful learning and allow students to make knowledge their own. I incorporated synchronous small group discussions among peers to replace some of what was lost by not meeting face-to-face. These discussions were to be opportunities for students to better understand the material by hearing others' interpretations while sharing their own. In this article, I provide a qualitative content analysis of students' conversations in these chat room discussions.