Constructive Chaos: Interactional Coherence in Asynchronous Learning Environments

Numerous studies have affirmed the value of asynchronous online communication. Some researchers, however, have suggested that asynchronous discussions are too often neither interactive nor coherent. This research explores interactional coherence in asynchronous learning environments using Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST). Findings include that asynchronous discussions are structurally dynamic, that the prevalence of argumentation varies considerably from group to group, and that topic drift, so common in asynchronous discussions, does not occur as a matter of chance. Participants use topic drift in order to adapt discussion to a topic of preference. As such, topics do not drift so much as they are pushed and pulled. The application of rhetorical networks as a directed graph theory for representing the semantics of asynchronous interaction has interesting implications for online pedagogy, as well as for future technology development.