When I first accessed the OC virtual classroom, I developed an impression of structure and neatness in observing this „parent-child‟, hierarchical structure of participants‟ texts on the week one discussion forum. It appeared as if the OC participants were taking turns in each conversation. I imagined that I would be able to sort a whole week‟s discussion forum into a number of classroom conversations with a lot of ease and in quite a short time. This was not the case. The OC classroom conversations appear to the observer as if conversations follow one another. It is in attempting to organize these conversations, marking who addressed whom about what and when, that it becomes difficult and sometimes confusing.
In asynchronous classroom conversations, organized turn taking is illusory. I developed this sense when I observed the time stamp on participants‟ texts. For instance, a participant could be engaged in more than one classroom conversation on the same day (i.e. in parallel), or engaged first in one conversation, then moves on to a second when
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the first comes to closure (i.e. sequentially). There was no one right or common way in which participants engaged in online classroom conversations. In this sense, participants are not „quiet‟ until others finish their conversations. Nor do they engage in one conversation at a time. Rather, they engage in multiple conversations whenever they wish and with whomever they want. In few instances, a participant linked his/her text (i.e. child post) to a wrong parent post. In these instances, I relocate the participant‟s text - in my analysis - to what I perceive as the right parent post by attending to the contents of texts.
My initial perception of structuredness and neatness quickly changed to a sense of complexity and flux in observing the OC classroom‟s interactions and conversations. Participants are engaging in and disengaging from different conversations at different points of time over the week. Drawing on Bakhtin (1981), this observed flux is „favourable‟ because it implies a democratic setting, where participants have the autonomy to engage and/or disengage whenever they want. However, because of these multiple-party conversations and party-like situation, it is also a complex setting. It is this sense of noisiness and messiness that inevitably acts in parallel to the OC polyphonic setting. It was sometimes difficult to keep track of „all‟ classroom conversations which occur in the week. There were forty-four classroom conversations within the reported one hundred and thirty-four texts in week one.
The OC students most often started their weekly discussions after posting their DQ- initial response on the relevant discussion forum15. This left students with five days or less (Saturday/Sunday to Wednesday) to engage with their peers and online tutor in classroom dialogue. Considering they had to submit their assignments on time, engage in classroom dialogue, read others‟ texts and conversations, and then craft their own responses in this period, time quickly became an issue. It appeared to overwhelm students who had to combine full-time jobs with their studies and other social responsibilities;
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A DQ-initial response refers to a student’s written assignment in response to the week one discussion question. For example, Terry’s DQ -initial response refers to Terry’s written assignment in response to week one discussion question.
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“The number of individual contributions was not controlled and I was pretty overwhelmed”
(Anonymous, OC module report, January Term, 2012)
“I found 6000 word for the final Module Project, too long for such a small period of time having to deal also with many other personal and professional responsibilities”
(Anonymous, OC module report, January Term, 2012)
“Actually, DQ2 in weeks 2 and 4 makes me nervous. Every time there is little time period between DQ1 and DQ2, thus, there is nearly no time to prepare for the second DQ. It happens to me during the 1st and 2nd module. It may be my personal problem, but it happened to me twice”
(Anonymous, OC module report, January Term, 2012)
Figure 4.5 is a visual metaphor, presenting my interpretation and sensemaking of the „flux‟ and „messiness‟ I observed and/or felt in the OC classroom discussion forum.
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Figure (4.5). A visual metaphor of the OC classroom polyphonic setting.
The ball of wool is intended to symbolize the OC classroom discussion forum in week one. The knitting thread is used to denote conversations in which participants in the OC classroom are engaged with one another. Each of the many threads denotes a
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conversation. The knitting threads appear to connect participants randomly, but actually it denotes participants‟ freedom to engage in conversations of their choice. This mirrors a favourable polyphonic setting in which voices express their viewpoints and perspectives freely. However, the greater the number of crossing threads, the greater the sense of noisiness and messiness, and the difficulty in tracing conversations. Whilst the OC classroom setting is polyphonic and democratic, it is also messy and noisy.
The six double-edged arrows symbolize participants‟ engagement with others in classroom conversations and, so emphasize the relational nature of participants‟ texts on a discussion forum. The four participants are meant to exemplify four possibilities. The student may engage more in a particular conversation (e.g. some conversations involve the exchange of seven texts between participants). In another conversation, the student may engage less (e.g. some conversations involve the exchange of two texts between participants). In a third conversation, the student may spend more time lurking; reading and observing16. In a fourth conversation, the student may choose not to respond to a text addressed to him/her (e.g. some text attracts no response, failing to relate to others in the classroom).
Having described my interpretation and sensemaking of the OC classroom, I sought feedback from five academic colleagues in different management areas to check whether my description made sense to others, but this remains largely my construction. A question is then raised: to what extent does this construction fit in with the OC (polyphonic) setting? It then appears useful to provide another perspective in interpreting the OC polyphonic setting. The literature on the use of social network analysis and sociograms may be useful in this regard.