The 'e-mediating' or otherwise 'five-stage' instructional design model for e-learning focusses on the construction of knowledge through the gradual development of socialisation. The study in hand aimed to capture the socialisation as it develops in an asynchronous teacher training course in Digital Literacy, designed and implemented with the five-stage model. Specifically, the study investigated not only the development or lack thereof socialisation but in which tool (where), at which stage (when), and with which messages/posts (how) it occurred, thus trying to investigate what helps and what hinders its development in such a context. Data were collected by using the message analysis technique used by Jones & Peachey (2005) in a similar study. The results showed implications on the role of the trainer, on the importance of the social organisation and design of the e-tivities, and finally on the role of the digital tools used.