An Exploratory Study for the Development of a Survey on Learning Team Process, Impact, and Tutor’s Role (PIT) in Facilitating Online Learning

Abstract

The aim of this article is to learn about teamwork in an online learning environment. to achieve this purpose, we developed a questionnaire based on three initial concepts, learning team process, learning teamwork impact, and tutor’s facilitation of learning teamwork. The PIT questionnaire is an instrument that could be used to identify critical factors that online students perceived as important in enhancing their learning and improve their experiences. We used some open-ended questions to support the questionnaire’s items analysis. We claim that learning team processes as well as tutor’s facilitations does have an impact on students’ experiences and learning. For a purposeful learning team, members should set clear goals outlining expectations and that every member should feel a sense of belonging and safe to contribute their ideas. The learning teamwork impact component contributed for the most variance in the PIT questionnaire. Apart from learning content, students indicated that with learning teams they gained collaborative skills, felt motivated and learned pertinent concepts from their peers from different backgrounds. We conclude that online learning teams are a form of community of learners, a place where students and tutors are actively and intentionally constructing knowledge together.