This study investigated the topic and information in informal conversations by 332\ud
students at a Pacific Islands university, utilizing the College Student Experiences\ud
Questionnaire (CSEQ). A quantitative study, it used descriptive statistics and the\ud
Kruskal-Wallis test to analyse data. Conceptualized around the notion of grapevines,\ud
it found that students are least likely to have conversations on the arts, but are more\ud
likely to have conversations on the economy. It was also found that the students were\ud
least likely to persuade their peers as a consequence of knowledge they have gained,\ud
but are likely to refer to knowledge they have gained to investigate other ways of\ud
thinking about a topic. This has implications for the understanding of the coconstruction\ud
of knowledge by university students outside of class, and what influence\ud
that could have on the understanding of intellectual conversations of students within\ud
the class. It is important to recognize that the “community of truth” should not be seen\ud
as existing only in the classroom, but out-of-class as well where students can have a\ud
better understanding of the curriculum, evaluate what is happening in society, and\ud
also have the opportunity to disagree and interrogate what is being taught to them