Gender impact on online classroom social networks for working professionals

This study investigated gender impact on interactions within an online social network composed of Professional Master of Business Administration (PMBA) students. The findings enable educators to construct more effective online social networks. Participants engaged in discussions using a platform called VoiceThread. These discussions comprised text, audio and video components. Emerging dynamics were examined with social network analysis (SNA) and sentiment analysis (SA) techniques. Social presence and discussion quality characteristics were based on collected data. Among the findings were that males made multimedia posts more commonly than females. Responses to multimedia posts typically were higher quality suggesting greater social presence related to more engaged discussions. Regarding SNA outcomes, higher centrality correlated with comment positivity. Among the unique findings, males responded to female-initiated threads more negatively than did other females. In conclusion, our results indicated that gender impacts classroom discussions. Ultimately, educator awareness of this impact can enhance equitable use of social networks in higher education.