Cutting through layers of the BBC "Onion street": children's use of homework message boards out-of-school

We explored children’s spontaneous use of the Onion Street Maths and English message boards out-of-school. These are open-access, study support forums that are widely accessed and well-regarded by teachers and students in the UK. 416 messages were collected on the Maths board and 893 messages were collected on the English board. Sustained engagement was rare. Around 90% of user identities contributed only once. Nearly two thirds of threads on both boards did not get any reply. Sequential observation and content analysis were used to identify themes emerging in the discussion. Results revealed that although children came to the boards mainly for seeking help and asking questions, discussions around different curriculum subjects (Maths and English) were structured differently. Because of children’s limited skills in asking questions, the boards had limited value for learning conversations. However, sharing emotional reactions to study and examination may still have made the resource a useful one.