An Approach for Thematic Relevance Analysis Applied to Textual Contributions in Discussion Forums

2. Related Works

Several scientific studies have been carried out in DL environments with a focus on the investigation of aspects associated with both the communication and the interaction of students in LMS (Chen & Looi, 2017; Machado, Lima, Maciel, & Rodrigues, 2016). The activities related to the communication and interaction of students in these virtual environments promote the Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) which, according to Bogarín, Cerezo, and Romero (2018), “is characterized by the sharing and construction of knowledge between participants using technology as their primary means of communication or as a common resource” (p. 10). From the computational point of view, several techniques have achieved promising results, among them Text Mining and Network Science deserve our special attention as they are related to the scope of this work.