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Social conversation and effective discussion in online group learning.
- Source :
- Educational Technology Research & Development; Oct2009, Vol. 57 Issue 5, p587-612, 26p, 1 Color Photograph, 3 Diagrams, 9 Charts
- Publication Year :
- 2009
-
Abstract
- This paper studies the social talk of high school students in online discussion forums. On-task talk has generally been assessed as valuable discussion because it contributes directly to productive learning. Off-task conversation, on the other hand, is often regarded as useless and a waste of time. Should this social talk indeed be regarded as an off-task activity? Is social talk such as greeting, excusing, comforting and sharing personal feelings irrelevant to learning? This study analyzes threads and argues that social talk is interwoven with on-task talk. It is interesting to note that a substantial quantity of off-task messages served the latent function of guiding group discussion toward making progress in solving collaborative problems in a subtle and indirect manner. The power of “soft talk” embedded in off-task social conversation is explored and fully discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 10421629
- Volume :
- 57
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Educational Technology Research & Development
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 43865239
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-009-9121-1