International Journal of
Information and Education Technology

Abstract

This study analyzed the interactive behaviours among students in online course forum. The subject of this study was 30 students who participated in a course. The course was delivered in a mixed mode which contained online mode and face-to-face mode. The whole semester was divided into three six-week periods which represented the earlier stage, the mid stage and the late stage of the semester. The online relation networks were respectively reconstructed among the participants according to the interactive behaviours in the forum by Social Network Analysis method. The relation networks among the students in the course forum were high-density networks. The students in these networks got in touch with most active participants and information could be shared among most participants. The important indicators such as “density”, “mean distance” and “reciprocity” in the three periods of the semester were calculated. The results showed that the characteristics of the relation networks generated in the three periods differed. Finally, some suggestions were propsed for teacher, limitations and further research plans were proposed.