An evaluation framework of expertise presence in computer conferences

Currently, for educators and researchers, diagnosing the online interactions specifically related to knowledge and expertise exchanges is challenging. To address the problem, this paper describes a framework for the understanding and measurement of expertise presence in computer conferences. Expertise presence is defined as a persistent contribution of knowledge relevant to the purposes of the computer conferences. The paper includes a technique for measuring the strength of expertise presence from transcripts of computer conferences, and it also envisages a number of applications in online learning diagnosis and research. A case study of the application of the framework to the computer conferences of several online courses is discussed