Teaching online in Networked Learning Communities: A multi-method approach Maarten de Laat e-Learning Research Centre University of Southampton U.K. Centre for ICT in Education IVLOS University of Utrecht The Netherlands m.delaat@soton.ac.uk Vic Lally Networked Learning Research Group University of Sheffield v.lally@sheffield.ac.uk Lasse Lipponen Department of Psychology University of Helsinki Finland lasse.lipponen@helsinki.fi Abstract. The aim of this paper is to study the online tutoring styles of two teachers who each tutor a networked learning community (NLC), within the same workshop. The study is undertaking empirical work using a multi-method approach in order to triangulate and contextualize our findings and enrich our understanding of the teacher’s involvement in these NLC’s. We apply social network analysis (SNA) to visualise the social structure of the NLC, content analysis (CA) to identify learning and teaching processes, critical event recall (CER) to gather the teacher’s personal experiences and intentions. This paper reports some of the current findings of our work and discusses future prospects. This study is part of a continuing international study that is investigating networked collaborative learning as a way to develop a rich descriptive body of evidence of tutoring and learning processes in e-learning. Keywords: networked learning, online tutoring, multi-method, triangulation, computer- mediated-communication INTRODUCTION The aim of this paper is to study the nature of online tutoring within a networked learning community (NLC). By NL we mean the use of Internet-based information and communication technologies to promote collaborative and co-operative connections: between one learner and other learners; between learners and tutors; between a learning community and its learning resources, so that participants can extend and develop their understanding and capabilities in ways that are important to them, and over which they have significant control (Banks, Goodyear, Hodgson, & McConnell, 2003, p1). The notion of communities (Lave & Wenger, 1991) has changed the way we experience teaching and learning in education. The teacher no longer is in full control and learners are actively taking responsibility and start to coordinate and regulate their own (collaborative) learning (De Laat & Lally, 2004). While, in educational practice, there still is a strong (and much needed) focus on the teacher, researchers are pointing out the changing teacher-student relationship (Mazzolini & Maddison, 2003; McConnell, 1999; Rimmershaw, 1999; Vonderwell, 2003). The teacher becomes more and more a ‘guide on the side’, which implies that students are stimulated to take active control over their own and collaborative learning processes. This allows them to fulfil their particular learning intentions and needs (Gustafson, Hodgson, Mann, & Olsen, 2004), and coordinate their