Effects of gender diversity on college students’ collaborative learning: From individual gender to gender pairing

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of gender and gender pairing on behaviors and social interaction during collaborative learning in a blended learning environment. Three types of pairing (all-female, all-male, and mixed) were considered in an empirical study with 44 undergraduate students. The results revealed that, first, female students were more likely to perform well in listening, talking, and integrating during class, and in the quality of posts after class, whereas male students tended to engage more in irrelevant behavior in collaboration. Second, same-gender groups were more active in collaborative discussion, but all-male groups performed worst in quality of posts after class. Third, both male and female students were more active in same-gender groups than in mixed groups. Finally, same-gender groups tended to have greater interpersonal connectedness than mixed-gender groups. The paper ends with a list of practical implications for facilitating effective collaborative learning in co-educational college classrooms.