The Impact of Online Learners' Social Interaction on Learning Achievement Based on Social Network Analysis

This study investigated the problems of low course completion rate, low participation rate, and insufficient interaction in online learning community through literature analysis. Then analyzing social interaction characteristics of online learners through Social Network Analysis (SNA) methods. This study analyzed 97 students who participated in the “Organizational Behavior” online course and 2,423 posts chosen in the discussion forum from the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) online platform to explore the influence of their social interaction network characteristics on learning achievement. As a result, topics which richer and more targeted in the online learning community can stimulate individuals to conduct high-quality social interactions and improve learning achievement. And teachers are encouraged to give full play to their central role in the network to optimize topic and interactive activity design, and have a discussion on the different role and impacts of teachers in social interactive networks.