Building a Taxonomy of “Listening” Behaviors in Online Discussions: Case Studies of High- and Low-Activity Students

• In Event: Exploring Online Discussions

Abstract

Engaging with others’ posts is an essential part of online discussions. This research examines micro-analytic case studies of such “online listening” behaviors. Three of the five cases studied are presented in this proposal: “Gigi”, showed a content coverage approach to listening, viewing all her classmates’ posts but not drawing on them in her own; “Darren” showed a social coverage approach to listening, briefly scanning many posts and acknowledging his classmate’s contributions in a conversational tone; and “Ron” showed a targeted approach to listening, focusing on certain posts in the discussion and disregarding the rest. The cases are compared with theoretical typologies of listening behaviors proposed based on Knowlton’s (2005) taxonomy of online discussion participation.

Authors

• Alyssa F. Wise, Simon Fraser University

• Ying-Ting Hsiao, Simon Fraser University

• Farshid Marbouti, Purdue University

• Jennifer Speer, Simon Fraser University

• Nishan Perera, Simon Fraser University