Discourse Analysis of a Moodle Based Academic Discussion Among Student Community

Abstract

The last two decades have witnessed an unprecedented growth in the number of users going online. While it has not happened overnight, the growth has been exponential in the last one decade. Chronologically, New media revolution started with the advent of internet. Innovations in computer and network technologies led to a massive adoption of communication technologies in varied forms. The scene in education domain is no different. There is lot of interest and investment in technology integrated education. With innovations such as MOODLE and MOOCS, the opportunities have grown manyfold. New media has enabled the end user to make a transition from a mere information consumer to a spontaneous information producer. Moreover, all along, new media has broken the space and time barrier leading to ubiquitous environment to communicate. It is in this context that the discourse generated through the new media is becoming an object of interest from research perspective. This paper uses a MOODLE based university Learning Management System and its discussion forums to make students participate in online discussions. The resulting academic discourse has been analysed using content analysis through a facet based approach. The objective of the study is to understand how technology and social aspects of an academic discussion are manifested in a mediated discourse.