A Social Network Study of Online Communication among Elementary Students and Teachers with Home Internet Access

Abstract

This paper presents preliminary results from a social network study of an after-school, online community among 24 fifth grade students and two teachers from the PCs for Families Project. The project provided students and teachers with free home network technology and Internet access. A proxy server recorded home Internet usage so that student communication patterns could be determined. All recorded instances of after-school communication took place via email or project chat rooms. Teachers and students made greater use of email than chat to communicate outside the classroom. Students were more likely to communicate with students of the same gender using the Internet, with female students more likely than male students to email the female teaching staff. Further, once the physical classroom community ceased to exist, the Internet-enabled community virtually disappeared. Study results have implications for both research (e.g., how student characteristics relate to a student's role in Internet communication networks) and design (e.g., what means of Internet communication are must successful at promoting after-school interaction).