The student interviews were semi-structured to allow the interviewers – three researchers based at the private tertiary college – to ask supplementary questions if there appeared to be more information forthcoming from the student interviewees. The questions included reference to students’ past experience of working online, the expectations students felt that the college had of them, the value of the discussion forum, and how they felt about the forum. It was only after the first set of interviews had been completed that themes for coding the data were identified. It was at this point that strategic approaches to the course started to become evident.