Online Group Interactions in Online Classrooms: Does Experience Matter?

Abstract

Group work has found to be a useful tool for teaching especially in the traditional classroom. Students learn to assimilate disparage ideas and merge them into a single solution, while simultaneously learning to work and communicate within a group in a constructivist environment. Group work can improve cognitive learning among its students. However, the online classroom has made group work more challenging. Thus, this study investigates the experiences of learners from different levels of study in online group work. In addition to that, some learners had more experience being in online classes than their peers and that can be of some difference. Three aspects were reviewed in terms of teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. Specifically, this study is done to explore group interactions during online learning across experience. 175 respondents were purposively chosen to answer the survey. The survey has 4 main sections. Section A has items on the demographic profile. Section B has 8 items on teaching presence. Section C has 8 items on social presence and section D has 8 items on cognitive presence. A general overview of the findings reveals the importance of having more experience in the online class environment in order to gain most of what is taught. Findings for each of type of the presence bear interesting implications for the teaching of learning of online classes using group work approach.