The Learning Potential of a Web-mediated Discussion in a University Course

This article reports an analysis of an asynchronous web-mediated discussion in a university philosophy class. The aim was to find out what kinds of interaction took place and what created potential for learning, using dialogue theory based on Bakhtin, Rommetveit and Lotman. It is argued that the high degree of interactivity and dialogicality, where the students not only presented their own ideas but engaged with one another through extended written responses, was a result of the quality of the assignment, the role of the teacher and the symmetry of the participants. The analysis shows that the discussion entries combined dialogic and univocal functions, both of which contributed to a high learning potential as well as the multi-voicedness of the learning experience.