Online Collaborative Learning Environment Research Articles

Does constructivism learning approach lead to developing creative thinking skills? The mediating role of online collaborative learning environments

Does constructivism learning approach lead to developing creative thinking skills? The mediating role of online collaborative learning environments

Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Online Collaborative Learning in Germany

Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the cross-cultural perspectives on online collaborative learning in Germany.
 Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries.
 Findings: In Germany, online collaborative learning prioritizes structured environments and asynchronous communication to accommodate diverse schedules. Emphasis is placed on clear communication, punctuality, and achieving consensus through respectful dialogue. Educators stress the development of intercultural competence alongside disciplinary knowledge for effective cross-cultural engagement.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory, social identity theory & communities of practice theory may be used to anchor future studies on the cross-cultural perspectives on online collaborative learning in Germany. Establish professional development programs that offer continuous training and support for educators to enhance their cultural competence and pedagogical skills in facilitating online collaborative learning. Advocate for the integration of cross-cultural competency standards into teacher education programs and accreditation requirements to ensure that educators are adequately prepared to address the needs of culturally diverse student populations in online collaborative learning environments.

The influence of self- and co-regulation on the community of inquiry for collaborative online learning: an ODeL context

PurposeThis paper aimed to determine the self- and co-regulation influences on the community of inquiry (CoI) for collaborative online learning.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative survey was used on a sample of (N = 626) enrolled postgraduate students in a South African Open Distance and e-Learning (ODeL) university. The measuring instruments were the CoI and the shared metacognitive surveys. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to determine the association and influence of self- and co-regulation on the CoI.FindingsThe results indicated that self- and co-regulation related to the CoI (teaching, cognitive and social) presences. In addition, the results revealed that self- and co-regulation influence the CoI presences. Self-regulation had the highest influence on teaching and cognitive presence, while co-regulation influenced social presence.Research limitations/implicationsThe study’s convenience sampling method from a single university limited the applicability of the findings to other online learning environments.Practical implicationsHigher educational teachers who encourage student self- and co-regulation may enhance their online teaching, cognitive and social presence when studying online. The research’s findings may be valuable to teachers to enable them to provide a more collaborative and interactive online learning environment and promote productive online communities.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the body of knowledge about the relationship between teaching, social and cognitive presence and self- and co-regulation within the CoI framework. Furthermore, there has also been limited research focussing on the dynamics of shared metacognition within the CoI framework in an ODeL context.

Facial Expression Recognition for Examining Emotional Regulation in Synchronous Online Collaborative Learning

AbstractArtificial intelligence (AI) has been recognised as a promising technology for methodological progress and theoretical advancement in learning sciences. However, there remains few empirical investigations into how AI could be applied in learning sciences research. This study aims to utilize AI facial recognition to inform the learning regulation behaviors in synchronous online collaborative learning environments. By studying groups of university students (N = 36) who participated in their online classes under the COVID-19 social distancing mandates, we strive to understand the interrelation between individual affective states and their collaborative group members. Theoretically underpinned by the socially shared regulation of learning framework, our research features a cutting-edge insight into how learners socially shared regulation in group-based tasks. Findings accentuate fundamental added values of AI application in education, whilst indicating further interesting patterns about student self-regulation in the collaborative learning environment. Implications drawn from the study hold strong potential to provide theoretical and practical contributions to the exploration of AI supportive roles in designing and personalizing learning needs, as well as fathom the motion and multiplicity of collaborative learning modes in higher education.

Influence of Teacher Intervention on College Students’ Metacognition in an Online Collaborative Learning Environment

The rapid development of the Internet, big data, and mobile Internet technology has resulted in the emergence of online collaborative learning as the primary mode of collaborative learning. Although online collaborative learning is flexible and autonomous, the learning performance of learners is not high. One of the main problems that perplexes teachers in online teaching is the high dropout rate but low completion rate. Online education has become increasingly important for improving the quality of students’ learning. Teachers’ rational use of resources, strategies, and other intervention techniques can significantly enhance the quality of online education. Exploring the effect of teacher-led classroom interventions on college students’ metacognition under the collaborative learning mode can further integrate information technology with classrooms and promote the improvement of classroom learning and teaching effectiveness. Two parallel classes, consisting of 80 students each, were selected as research subjects at Harbin University of Science and Technology in Heilongjiang Province, China. The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of teacher intervention on college students’ metacognition (specifically, metacognitive planning, metacognitive monitoring, metacognitive regulation, and metacognitive evaluation) in an online collaborative learning environment. Results show that there is no significant difference in the online collaborative learning experience between the experimental class and the control class (P = 0.3542 > 0.05). Nonetheless, the experimental and control groups differ in their metacognitive planning (t = 3.943, p = 0.000), metacognitive monitoring (t = 2.464, p = 0.016), metacognitive regulation (t = 2.024, p = 0.046), and metacognitive evaluation (t = 3.675, p = 0.000). These findings indicate that teacher intervention promotes metacognition among college students. The findings have significant reference value for the seamless integration of online teaching resources and teachers’ instruction, the customization of students’ individualized learning paths, and the enhancement of online collaborative learning performance.

스캐폴딩 기반 온라인 협력학습 환경에서 예비교사의 사회적 실재감이 학습성과에 미치는 영향

Objectives The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between social presence, learning engagement, and learning outcomes of pre-service teachers’ in scaffolding-based online collaborative learning environments( hereinafter referred to as OCLEs), and to verify the mediating effects of learning engagement in the relationship between social presence and learning outcomes.
 Methods For this purpose, this study conducted scaffolding-based online collaborative learning with 68 preservice teachers who took Educational Technology-related courses in a 4-year university A, Busan Metropolitan city. And then, this study surveyed social presence and learning engagement, and evaluated learning outcomes. The collected data was analyzed by conducting the hierarchical regression analysis of Baron and Kenny (1986) and the Sobel Test (1982).
 Results The main results of this study were as follows. First, In a scaffolding-based OCLEs, the relationship between the remaining variables showed a positive correlation with each other, except for the correlation between ‘affective connectedness’, ‘sense of community’, ‘emotional engagement’ and ‘learning outcomes’. Second, Pre-service teachers' ‘learning engagement’ was found to completely mediate the relationship between ‘social presence’ and learning outcomes’ in scaffolding-based OCLEs. Third, Pre-service teachers' ‘cognitive engagement’ and ‘behavioral engagement’ were found to completely mediate the relationship between ‘open communication’, ‘mutual support and empathy’ and ‘learning outcomes’ in scaffolding-based OCLEs.
 Conclusions It is meaningful in that it provided empirical grounds and basic data for scaffolding-based OCLEs design and class design that can be used in pre-service teachers’ education.

From self-regulation to co-regulation: refining learning presence in a community of inquiry in interprofessional education

ABSTRACT Introduction Online interprofessional education is a collaborative process that emphasizes both individual reflection and shared discourses. A useful analytical tool for understanding the complex dynamics of online collaborative learning is the community of inquiry (CoI) framework, which originally held that there are three types of presence in such learning: teaching, cognitive, and social. However, it was later revised to include learning presence, which is characterized by self-regulated learning. Our study aims to refine the construct of learning presence through a clearer understanding of how self- and co-regulation jointly influence learning outcomes. Methods We surveyed 110 people involved with an online interprofessional medical-education curriculum at a university in Hong Kong. Path analysis was adopted to explore the relationships among 1) the three original presences of CoI; 2) learning presence (i.e., for this purpose, a combination of self-regulation and co-regulation); and 3) two learning outcomes: perceived progress and learner satisfaction. Results The results of path analysis indicated that teaching presence had a significant indirect effect, through co-regulation, on perceived progress. In terms of direct relationships, co-regulation significantly and positively influenced both self-regulation and cognitive presence; and social presence had both positive influence on learners’ satisfaction and perceived progress. Discussion This study’s findings suggest the important role of co-regulation in supporting self-regulation, especially in online collaborative-learning environments. Learners’ self-regulation skills are shaped by their social interactions and regulatory activities with others. This further implies that health-professions educators and instructional designers should create learning activities that facilitate the development of co-regulatory skills, as a means of improving learning outcomes. As self-regulation is an important skill for health professions learners’ lifelong learning, and because their future workplaces will be interdisciplinary in nature, it is critical to provide interactive and collaborative learning environments that will promote co-regulation and self-regulation.

Team-based learning with group awareness: impact on students with different self-regulated learning levels

ABSTRACT Team-Based Learning (TBL) has been widely applied in different fields (courses) and has been indicated to be efficient. Meanwhile, many studies have asserted that Group awareness (GA) information, which visually displays peers’ learning context and activities, can increase peer participation within an online collaborative learning environment. As the level of preparation by students before class affects their subsequent learning performance in the TBL process, this study incorporates GA information into the preparation stage of TBL process and further develops the online TBL + GA system in order to raise peer preparation level. Furthermore, self-regulated learning (SRL) levels of a student and online learning environment interactively influence learning effectiveness. Accordingly, this study further investigates how the TBL + GA environment influences students with different SRL levels. Two freshman classes were randomly chosen, with one as the control class (using the traditional TBL) and the other as the experimental class using the TBL + GA. Analytical results indicate that although the two classes do not reach significance overall on preparation level, TBL + GA can significantly enhance preparation levels for high-SRL students, but not low-SRL students.

Teaching and cognitive presences: The mediating effect of social presence in a developing world context

Online learning has become a significant trend in education due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Online educators, course designers and institutions need to understand the importance of social presence in the dynamics of a community of inquiry and its association with teaching and cognitive presence. This study examined whether social presence mediated the relationship between teaching and cognitive presence. The participants were a random sample of 572 postgraduate honours students (mean age of 35.4 years; SD = 8.39 years). Participants were registered in the College of Economic and Management Sciences and the College of Science, Engineering and Technology at the University of South Africa, an Open Distance e-Learning (ODeL) institution. The students completed a standardised measure of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) instrument. The results indicated that social presence mediated the relationship between teaching and cognitive presence. The findings highlight the importance of social presence as a fundamental aspect of collaborative online learning as institutions turn to fully online teaching platforms. By implication, academic institutions and teachers must provide a more collaborative and interactive online learning environment and promote productive online communities.

Iranian EFL Learners’ Production of Online English Requests: Effects of Technology-Mediated Task-Based Instruction

This quasi-experimental study scrutinized the impact of technology-mediated TBLT in an online collaborative and individual EFL learning environment on the development of request production of 20 male and female B.A. students of TEFL. The participants were divided into two equal individual and collaborative experimental groups to receive online video-prompt task-based instruction on request speech act production in six distinct situations defined based on different contextual variables including distance, power, and imposition. Two similar versions of video-prompt Discourse Completion Tests (DCTs) focusing on six situations covered in online classes were given to the participants as a pretest and posttest. The results indicated that both groups’ request speech act production improved significantly after the intervention. However, there was no significant difference between the performance of the two groups. It was then concluded that both techniques are facilitative in boosting students’ pragmatic competence; however, more time is required to find out the extent to which these techniques differ in terms of their productiveness.

Adaptation of the shared-metacognition questionnaire (SMQ) into Turkish for online collaborative learning environments

The aim of this study was to adapt Shared-Metacognition Questionnaire (SMQ) into Turkish. The original version of the SMQ consisting of 26 items and two factors measures metacognition in online collaborative learning environments based on the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework. The data were collected from 364 university students who had online learning experience. Confirmatory factor analysis was done on two-factor and three-factor model. The three-factor model was confirmed with satisfactory model fit indices. The value of AVE for each dimension verified the convergent validity. For verifying discriminant validity, the AVE estimates of three factors were compared with the square of correlation among the factors, and reported as greater than shared-variance of related row-column values. The factor loading values indicated very good to excellent loadings, as verifying the statistically satisfactory indicator reliability. For internal consistency, composite reliability and alpha reliability were found satisfactory. Thus, the Turkish version of the SMQ indicated a reliable and valid estimate for online collaborative learning environments. Moreover, an Independent Samples t-Test was performed to examine whether there is a significant mean difference between female and male groups, and revealed that females scored higher on total shared metacognition, individual monitoring, individual regulation and group regulation than males.

Language learners’ emotion regulation and enjoyment in an online collaborative writing program

Collaborative learning in online contexts is emotionally challenging for language learners. To achieve successful learning outcomes, language learners need to regulate their emotions and sustain positive emotions during the collaborative learning process. This study investigated language learners’ emotion regulation and enjoyment, the most extensively researched positive emotion in foreign language learning, in an online collaborative English learning environment. In the study, we collected data by surveying 336 Chinese students majoring in English who collaboratively completed a series of English language writing tasks in 108 online groups facilitated by a social media app (WeChat). Principal component analysis revealed two primary types of emotion regulation: peer regulation and group regulation. The analysis also revealed one factor underpinning enjoyment: enjoyment of online collaboration. Correlation analysis showed medium and positive relationships between peer regulation, group regulation, and enjoyment of online collaboration. Structural equation modeling analysis further found that group regulation exerted a medium-sized direct effect on enjoyment of online collaboration. Peer regulation affected enjoyment of online collaboration moderately and indirectly via group regulation. The theoretical and pedagogical implications of the findings can help to optimize face-to-face and online collaborative language learning activities.

C-STARS: a collaborative online learning environment for situated translation teaching in higher education

PurposeBefore COVID-19 pandemic, translation students in higher education attended courses on computer-assisted translation to acquire operational knowledge of professional software, without experiencing collaborative/interactive learning. In few European universities skills labs were introduced to offer fieldwork-like activities, but without shared modelling standards and mainly held in presence for few consecutive days. As the COVID-19 pandemic further deprived students of crucial educational experiences, the purpose of this paper is to present an online collaborative learning environment exploiting a customised combination of information and learning applications the students already experienced during the pandemic to smoothen their learning curve and increase the educational effectiveness.Design/methodology/approachA multi-framework methodology to build and operate a computer-supported online collaborative skills lab for translation students is proposed. Reference standards and guidelines are leveraged to provide participants with a common knowledge ground, to activate the computer-supported collaborative learning perspective, and to ensure an appropriate simulation fidelity.FindingsAn end-to-end implementation of the proposed approach along with educational effectiveness analysis performed via complementary assessment strategies is presented. Achieved outcomes highlight significant participation rate, consistent improvement in technical and soft skills at both individual and collective levels, and clear activation of collaborative learning dynamics.Practical implicationsEvery master degree in translation teaching can adopt this approach by complying with the proposed guidelines.Originality/valueThe proposed multi-framework approach is novel and applied to a teaching sector where it is highly needed to fill a pre-existing gap.

Continuously analysing fine-grained student behaviours in an online collaborative learning environment

ABSTRACT This study examines the use of data analytics to evaluate students’ behaviours during their participation in an online collaborative learning environment called SkyApp. To visualise the learning traits of engagement, emotion and motivation, students’ inputs and activity data were captured and quantified for analysis. Experiments were first carried out in a primary school with 66 fifth-grade students. Each participating student collaborated with other group members using SkyApp through a personal computer in a classroom setting. While the students collaboratively solved mathematics questions in two quizzes, data about their learning traits were captured by SkyApp; various patterns of these data were then analysed. The findings based on the data analysis were triangulated with the results of questionnaires, revealing the relationship between student behaviours and collaborative learning as a kind of pedagogical intervention. The correlation between the data from the two approaches – data analytics and questionnaires – shows the potential of understanding students’ behaviours through continuous data analysis of learner-produced data without the need to collect self-reported data from the students involved. This study demonstrates that teachers can monitor and identify the effects of specific pedagogical interventions on students’ behaviours by looking at different snapshots taken over the course of e-learning activities.

DYNAMICS AND CAUSAL FACTORS OF TEAM SATISFACTION IN AN OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING COLLABORATIVE WRITING CLASS

Purpose – Instructors and students are compelled to calibrate to overcome pedagogical, technological and social challenges posed by the rapid adaptation of open and distance learning (ODL) in view of the current global pandemic. Against this backdrop, this study explored the impact of team dynamics (TD), team acquaintance (TA) and instructor support (IS) in ensuring team satisfaction (TS) in an academic writing course in an online collaborative learning environment. Methodology – This study employed a sequential mixed methods design. Quantitative data was obtained through a survey questionnaire from 67 students enrolled in an academic writing course based on convenience sampling from three different faculties of a Malaysian university. Subsequently, eight purposively selected students who represented each faculty and of varied language proficiency were interviewed in a focus group discussion (FGD) for in-depth feedback about the variables and how these impacted TS as a whole. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive analysis, regression and chi square tests while thematic analysis was conducted accordingly on the qualitative data in addressing the specific research questions. Findings – This study manifested a positive and significant correlation between TD and TS. The integral and supportive role of IS has been found to be substantially important in ensuring success in collaborative group work in ODL. Although qualitative data showed amicable relationship and cultural homogeneity, the quantitative findings did not indicate the significant role of TA in meeting the requirements of the course, that is, working collaboratively to accomplish academic writing tasks. Significance – This study provides useful insights into the success of an online collaborative learning context. The findings also serve to guide educators in designing, delivering and navigating effective pedagogy in the ODL environment.

Turkish Adaptation of the Group Metacognitive Scale: Metacognition in Online Collaborative Group Activity

Group Metacognition Scale (GMS) developed by Biasutti and Frate (2018) was adapted into Turkish in this study. The original scale was a 20-item, 4-factor self-report scale measuring students' metacognitive group skills and addressing what generally happened in their group during online collaborative activities. The study was conducted with 208 university students who performed group activities and tasks in online collaborative learning environments. Purposive and convenient sampling method was used in the selection of the participants. According to the confirmatory factor analysis performed in the study, it was found that the fit indices indicated an acceptable fit of the data. It was seen that the factor loadings of the items in the scale vary between 0.51 and 0.82. Cronbach's alpha values for the factors in the scale were calculated as knowledge of cognition, 0.851, planning 0.851, monitoring 0.787 and evaluating 0.845. In this study, the differentiation status of group metacognition scores according to gender and perception of achievement was also examined. The subscales and total score mean of the group metacognition scale of the participants showed a significant difference according to gender and perception of achievement. Suggestions were made within the framework of the findings.

The secret thoughts of social network sites users: a scale for the measurement of online knowledge-hiding in a knowledge exchange (KE) context

ABSTRACT Social networking sites (SNSs) are widely used to support online learning and knowledge exchange (KE) in projects that require the coordination of collaborative team-playing, especially in COVID-19 world pandemic. Paradoxically, while digital infrastructures enable instant communication, SNSs are not always conducive to KE behaviours, as learners are reticent to exchange knowledge with their peers online due to trust issues like personal privacy and Intellectual property rights protection, leads online users to conceal knowledge. Given that online-based KE practices are still in their infancy, one major weakness in current educational and knowledge management research is the lack of a reliable scale to measure knowledge-hiding online. This study develops and validates a novel Online Knowledge-hiding (OKH) scale that keeps into account the distinctive features of SNSs. While building on prior measurements of knowledge-hiding, we identify, test, and validate different indicators of the latent OKH construct. A mixed-method approach to scale development was used to validate this scale. Results show that the proposed scale is effective for organisations to assess whether online knowledge-hiding takes place during KE activities. The usefulness of this scale lies in improving the online collaborative learning environment while setting the foundation to address KE-related deviant behaviours at their incipit.

HPV Vaccination Champions: Evaluating a Technology-Mediated Intervention for Parents.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination prevents 6 HPV-related cancers in men and women. Yet, rates of HPV vaccination among adolescents in the United States lag behind other developed nations, revealing a significant public health issue. This feasibility study tested a collaborative online learning environment to cultivate HPV vaccination champions. A 3-month training program recruited parents to serve as proponents and social media influencers to identify solutions to overcome barriers to HPV vaccination. A mixed methods study design included a pretest survey, three online asynchronous focus groups, a posttest survey, as well as a longitudinal follow-up survey at 6 months. Participants included 22 parents who self-identified as female (95.4%) and white (90.9%). Overall, there was a statistically significant difference in knowledge of HPV and HPV vaccination between pretest and posttest (p = 0.0042). This technology-mediated intervention increased parents' confidence and motivated them to speak more freely about HPV vaccination in-person and online with others in their social networks. Participants identified prevalent misinformation about HPV vaccination and learned how to effectively craft messages to address concerns related to safety and side effects, gender, understanding of risk, and sexual activity. Objective measures and qualitative open-ended assessment showed high intervention engagement and treatment satisfaction. All participants (100%) indicated that they enjoyed participating in the intervention. The effectiveness of this feasibility study suggests that social media is an appropriate platform to empower parents to counter vaccine hesitancy and misinformation through HPV vaccination information that is simple and shareable in-person and online.

Understanding immersion in 2D platform-based online collaborative learning environments

Previous studies have revealed that when video gamers, or users of three-dimensional (3D) virtual worlds, display intense concentration coupled with an emotional engagement in their undertaking, they are affected by multisensory stimuli. This can lead to developing a feeling of detachment from the physical world, which, in turn, can lead to high levels of participation and engagement. Notwithstanding these results, it remains unclear as to whether students can experience the same kind of immersion in two-dimensional (2D) platform-based online collaborative learning spaces as has been achieved in video games and 3D worlds and, if they actually can, which features would lead to similar levels of increased engagement. This study is one of the first attempts to investigate the immersion experiences of students engaged in two 2D online collaborative learning platforms, one text-based and the other video-based. Data from eight students revealed that key features of immersion observed in video games and 3D worlds also appeared during the online collaborative activities but that the way such immersion was perceived by the students was greatly affected by the characteristics of the individual platform. When emotional engagement was considered, empathy was found to play an important role in the participants’ immersion experiences.
 Implications for practice or policy:
 
 Text-based platforms could be effective in motivating students to focus more on the postings, while video-based platforms may be more effective in generating empathy with others through observation of body language.
 When selecting a communication platform for online collaboration, sensory stimuli of the platform should be carefully examined.
 Empathy could be developed prior to an online collaborative activity so that students reflect on their thoughts and consider others’ feelings for a more immersive learning experience.

Collaborative Learning Tools for Constructive Learning in Maldives Collaborative

Collaborative student work has taken a stronghold in higher educational contexts due to the paradigm shift from instructor-centered to student-centered teaching and learning. Instructor roles have shifted towards facilitation and students have become more active in their learning, creating and sharing knowledge within their social groups. The availability of online tools enabling peer collaboration has been the main driving force behind this progress. These online collaborative learning environments have been particularly useful for geographically distributed learners with limited opportunities for face-to-face collaboration. With the evidence from literature, this has proven to be applicable to Maldives, with its unique geography of 1190 islands distributed over 20 atolls, with students across the country in executing constructive learning approaches in Maldives.