University Students' Peer to Peer Knowledge Sharing Practices via SNS - A Network Analysis Approach

In this exploratory study, we suggest using network analysis as a method to investigate the spontaneous, day to day practices of students using SNS based study groups (specifically Whats App) in their learning. Asynchronous chat logs from five different groups were collected from bachelor students in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. All the groups were formed by the students and managed without faculty intervention or knowledge. Educationally related discourse episodes were selected (N = 466). The information shared in the groups was analyzed by a human judge and qualitatively coded into different themes (types of questions or requests, actions, different speech acts i.e. explain, contradict etc.). These themes formed the nodes in the network, and the strength of the ties connecting them was derived from the number of times they appeared together in the same episodes. The network analysis approach allows a visualization of how different and essential parts of a dialogic learning (motivation to question, critical reasoning and agreed upon definitions) are densely connected in certain (albeit rare) interactions, proving that students do engage in rich, collaborative, knowledge-building activities. (מתוך המאמר‎)