The relationship between educational performance and online access routines: analysis of students' access to an online discussion forum

A study of behaviour patterns associated with students accessing an online discussion forum is presented. Data collected on the frequency of access and the duration of sessions is analysed to establish several categories of learners, which depict the differences among the cohort in terms of participation in social learning. A British business school course for second year undergraduates was studied over two years (i.e. two cohorts) and the results were combined to derive categories of learner types. We conclude that that academic attainment does not appear to be related to student access behaviour necessarily.