An analysis tool for the assessment of student participation and implementation dynamics in online discussion forums

In order to conduct a successful online forum it is necessary to have a collection of proven provocative discussion topics, a sound technique to implement them, and a consistent way to assess student participation. In this paper I present an analysis tool that helps me evaluate individual student participation, the viability of the forum cases, and their success/failure of their execution. The paper begins with a brief introduction to the ANGEL learning system in use by my university, a review of techniques to promote, facilitate, and assess participation. This is followed by a description of the analysis tool, its operation, and factors that it measures. The paper concludes with lessons learned and opportunities for future work.