Individual Behaviors and Social Structure in the Development of Communication Networks of Self-Organizing Online Discussion Groups

Abstract

Four preservice teachers’ online discussion groups of eight randomly assigned participants each were studied to analyze the contribution of individual and social factors in the development of communication networks. Participants shared observations and followup responses in five weekly rounds of data collection. Using a core-periphery social network analysis model (Borgatti and Everett, 1999), distinctive core and periphery sub-groups were found in each of the four listservs. As measured through quality assessments of individual observational messages, mean quality was higher in each of the core groups, but results were statistically non-significant. In two of the groups, mean quality of follow-up responses was statistically significantly higher in the periphery for messages sent and, in one group, for response quality messages received. Early submission of observations was highly correlated with number of messages received. Fitting the core/periphery model to data from three cumulative time periods, T1, T3, and T5 for each listserv, allowed us to check for consistency in group dynamics over time. For each listserv, it was found that the communications data progressively achieved a better fit with a core/periphery model.