discourseGT: An R package to analyze discourse networks in educational contexts

Abstract

Student collaborations and discussions in the classroom are important components of the learning process. Current methods for analyzing discourse in these educational contexts are predominantly qualitative. To complement the existing methodologies in education research, discourseGT is an R package that adapts graph theory and social network analysis to analyze conversation patterns when students collaborate in small groups. Ths software package takes data on the sequential student talk-turns in a classroom discussion and produces statistics and plots based on both graph theory and other non-graph theory parameters. Overall, these new features in discourseGT can provide insight on the dynamics of student discussions relevant to education researchers.