Social Interactions in Distance Education at University Level: A Microsociological Approach

This paper focuses on the organization of social interaction in an online training of university students. It was supposed that despite the distance between students, mutual interactions are rich and structured. Technical constraints and spatio-temporal characteristics influence on participants who participate in social interaction. The theoretical framework of this study is based on the theory of Erving Goffman. The traces of exchanges between six students engaged in collaborative learning on a forum for discussion of FORSE campus were observed. The exploratory dimension is complemented by an inferential process of reviewing the Goffmanian concepts to consider matching of specific field of interaction without physical copresence of participants. We propose to treat this digital environment to a new frame of experience where an interactional order is established which is better understood