Challenging Assumptions: using sliding window visualizations to reveal time-based irregularities in CSCL processes

Temporality and the unfolding of collaborative processes over time are an important aspect in understanding the underlying mechanisms of collaborative learning. In this paper, we describe how interactive sliding window visualizations can integrate with existing methodologies to provide new insight into how interactions develop over time. We illustrate the value of these visualizations by performing a secondary analysis of a corpus analysed in a previous study to show how new insight can be gained and how results at a scale of a whole interactive session can be challenged when looking for time-based irregularities. We conclude by discussing the kinds of insights that can be gained from sliding window visualizations, how they overcome certain methodological limitations of existing techniques for dealing with temporality in CSCL and, in turn, the methodological limitations which they introduce.