Students often struggle with collaboration. Successful collaboration requires planning which is often neglected by individuals and groups. Research about whether technological interventions impact online collaborative processes and how these interventions take effect is limited. During the COVID-19 pandemic research about how to support effective online collaborative learning has never been as important for guiding best practices in post-secondary learning contexts.
The aim of this qualitative case study was to explore how the quality of planning discussions contribute to group performance and planning challenge perceptions, under the three different planning support conditions. Specifically, the study compared the planning interactions among groups who (a) reported different planning challenge experiences, (b) received different kinds of planning support, and (c) achieved different learning outcomes (group performance). Participants were drawn from 180 undergraduate students enrolled in a first-year course in a university in Canada. Students used an online chat tool to complete a collaborative task and reflect on the process. Extreme case sampling was used to identify groups who perceived planning as problematic (6 groups) and groups who did not (6 groups). Chat transcripts were analyzed for quality and characteristics of groups’ planning discussions. Findings indicate (a) planning was largely neglected by groups, (b) the overall quality of groups’ planning discussions were not calibrated with groups’ perceptions of planning challenges encountered by the group, (c) groups who received the planning support in the form of nominal visualizations engaged in more powerful planning processes during collaboration, and (d) group performance on the task differed between groups who perceived planning problematic and groups who did not. This study contributes to the field by recognizing the deficiency of groups’ planning process in collaboration and providing evidence of the effectiveness of a planning support tool. Recommendations for incorporating collaboration into online learning and instruction during COVID-19 are presented in the conclusion. / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/12533 |
| Date | 07 January 2021 |
| Creators | Hu, Jiexing |
| Contributors | Hadwin, Allyson |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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