Contribution-oriented user relation visualization for discussion forums

To enhance the teaching and learning quality for promoting effective e-learning with the wide applications of online discussion forums nowadays. We propose a contribution-oriented user relation visualization using chord diagram for representing and viewing of users’ contribution in selected discussion topics/forums in a course based on their post replying times and order with relation to other users, which can help academic/teaching staff to understand the students’ performance in the discussion forums more easily and efficiently, and may become useful key components of contribution visualization if further integrated into large-scale learning analytics systems. We mainly apply hypertext preprocessor PHP with latest JavaScript visualization library D3.js to extract and represent the underlying user relation visually via Scalable Vector Graphics, illustrating the proportional contribution of users engaged in the concerned discussion topics/forums. The chord diagram with graduated scale marked on the user indication used here offers good focus on showing the portion of contribution relation among users. We offer a tree-structured easy control menu for topics/forums selection. The experiments showed high-quality contribution-oriented user relation visualization of our system in forums.