Factors That Influence Collaborative Learning in Virtual Classrooms

by Patricia Deubel

June 24, 1998

Key Words: Virtual Classroom, Distance Collaboration, Pedagogy, Instructional Design

The virtual classroom (VC) is a metaphor for the learning, collaborative, and administrative spaces used to deliver education across the Internet. Instructors adopt the role of facilitator rather than expert and design instruction to incorporate teaching strategies from the one-to-one and many-to-many paradigms. Collaborative learners require new skills for learning. Hiltz (1995) says a VC can be used successfully alone or combined with face to face meetings and/or multimedia. Instructors, institutions, and corporations have interpreted the VC as a static web page, an online schoolroom, an educational MOO, or a teleconferencing classroom (Cervino, 1997). According to Gibbons (1997), application of leading-edge technology is important, but instructional design, not the technology used, is the principle factor that influences collaborative learning in virtual classrooms. Success or failure also depends on the amount and quality of interaction among participants (Hiltz, 1995). This paper addresses the factors that influence collaborative learning in virtual classrooms: the characteristics of the effective collaborator, the choice of pedagogical techniques, and the instructional design of the classroom including technology options. Examples of the pedagogy in action with pre-college and post-secondary students and lessons learned by educators about collaboration in virtual classrooms are detailed.

Collaboration is a learning process that stresses active group participation and interaction among students and instructors. Knowledge is viewed as a social construct (Hiltz, 1995). Students must have access to technology regularly and have knowledge of operating a personal computer with network connections to experience success in VCs. Effective collaborators have reasonable reading and writing skills, time, self-motivation, and self-discipline. Huang (1997) states that self-motivation means that students cannot take an entertain-me attitude and passively wait for actions from instructors. Students express themselves clearly using e-mail and learn skills to participate in remote discussions in a group decision support system or electronic meeting system. Learners understand written information effectively and efficiently and can seek out information from the almost-unlimited online resources. Hiltz (1995) notes that students with positive precourse attitudes toward computers in general and towards the specific system to be used will be more likely to participate actively online and to perceive greater benefits from the virtual classroom.

Paulsen (1995) defines a pedagogical technique as the manner of accomplishing teaching objectives. The collaboration sequence includes getting-acquainted activities, classroom activities, and ongoing interpersonal activities. The class facilitator creates many of these, but often the activities initiated by students foster the greatest learning. The discussion format encourages learners to analyze alternative ways of thinking and acting and assists learners in exploring their own experiences so that they can become better critical thinkers (Pitt & Clark, 1997). Paulsen (1995), Pitt and Clark (1997), and Hiltz (1995) have identified strategies from the one-to-one and many-to-many paradigms that are effective for collaboration. The techniques classified as one-to-one can be conducted via e-mail or simple Internet chat modes. In these modes one person has information or knowledge sought by another. For example, one-to-one techniques include learning contracts, apprenticeships, and correspondence studies. Many-to-many techniques can be organized within computer-conferencing systems, bulletin board systems, or distribution lists for e-mail. A characteristic of the many-to-many techniques is that all participants have the opportunity to take part in interactions. The instructor adopts the role of facilitator rather than expert. As in a traditional classroom, instruction often includes the lecture format because it is an efficient way to impart information and lay the foundation for learning. When used alone, however, lecture does not promote collaborative learning. Many-to-many techniques include discussion groups, role plays, seminars, sharing assignment solutions, collaborative compositions, debates, simulations, case studies, brainstorming, forums, and group projects.

Role Plays: When role playing participants act out a role as he or she feels it would be played in real life to promote an understanding of other persons' positions or attitudes as well as the procedures that might be used for diagnosing and solving problems (Pitt & Clark, 1997). Role plays can be based on case studies or momentary experiences. Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs) and MUDs that are Object Oriented (MOOs) are used as interactive role playing games and social gathering places. For example, MiamiMOO is a collaborative project at Miami University in Ohio involving the Departments of Classics, Religion, Educational Psychology, Art and Architecture, as well as students and faculty in Classics, Archaeology, English and History there and at other institutions. MOOs are traditionally text-based, but MiamiMOO also incorporates a World Wide Web interface, where photographs, plans and eventually 3D images intended to enhance the experience of virtual environments can be made available. For a pilot MOO, students researched the classics and re-created the structures of the Greek sanctuary of Asklepios at Edidauros and the interactions, including appropriate behavior, that took place there. Students played such roles as the priest, worshipper or participant in a specific festival. Interactions ranged from actions as simple as leaving a votive for a god to offering a sacrifice to participating in a procession or athletic competitions as part of a local or Pan-Hellenic festival. Students made decisions regarding expenditures and day-to-day maintenance, and abided by the established religious calendar (Bonefas, 1996).

Seminars: Hiltz (1995) describes a seminar as the collaborative strategy in which students become the teachers. Individuals or small groups are responsible for selecting a topic, usually from a list provided by the instructor; reading material not assigned to the entire class; preparing a written summary of key ideas; and leading a discussion on the topic for which they were responsible. According to Tinker and Haavind (1997), the seminar is a key instructional strategy for netcourses because faculty at the center of online conversations is not able to reach large numbers of students easily. At the University of New Mexico, Scott uses the discussion seminar as the format for his course for teachers called Systemic Change in Math and Science Education. Each week a different pair is responsible for moderating a new thread. Moderators upload reading material, ask questions, or pose challenges to start discussions (Tinker & Haavind, 1997).

Sharing Assignment Solutions: Seagren and Watwood (1997) set out course material in modular form and require responses from students and small groups on questions from assignments. Each student is expected to comment constructively on about 20% of the other group members’ presentations as a means of promoting interaction and maintaining the teaching dialogue. Neufeld (1997) found that posting student work on a web site increases participation in lectures and group tutorials and fosters better performance on assignments. He recommends requiring students to read posted work from their classmates and using those materials as a basis for further discussions or class activities. Hiltz (1995) adds that actual examinations should include some items chosen from those created by students. This practically guarantees interaction about knowledge content in a unit.

Debates: The University of California at Berkeley supplies a database of online debate projects suitable for pre-college students. Teachers can obtain collections of evidence for students to use, examples of prior student debates, and curricula. Projects are structured to help students see different ideas, engage in argumentation, and learn how to use evidence to solve a scientific problem. SpeakEasy, the online software tool, allows students to have discussions with scientists and others around the world. One debate project called How Far Does Light Go? engages students in an examination of the scientific properties of light using relevant evidence from the Web. The project culminates in an informal classroom debate where groups present their arguments about how far light goes and respond to questions from other students (Knowledge Integration Environment Project, 1996).

Case studies: A case study refers to a description of a real situation that participants discuss in order to understand the problem and practice decision making procedures (Knox, cited in Paulsen, 1995). Researchers involved with The EarthLab Project at the University of Wisconsin at Madison are developing a computer-based learning environment for earth science education of pre-college students. The project includes a digital library of case studies with versions written at three reading levels. Information can be added to a case study that may not have been available for a near real-time study. For example, students can enhance the case study, Winter Storm, with snowfall and snow cover data collected daily from the network of second-order stations and cooperative observers. Ross (1996) says that the goal of this weather lesson is to show, with the aid of operational charts and other devices, the three dimensional structure of the earth's atmosphere on a day when a storm was located in the Midwest.

Projects: Collaborative projects are often used with pre-college and university students. According to Waugh, Levin, and Smith (1994), a project is more likely to go to completion if a specific topic is pursued and participants agree to mutually participate in each other’s projects. Groups of differing ages often improve the project. Regular communication on the personal level, timelines, persistence, summarizing and recognizing accomplishments, and sharing outcomes with others are components for success. Participants must be willing to contribute as well as receive information to build credibility with members of the group to accomplish goals. Technical competency is valued, but enthusiasm goes a long way in creating an electronic community.

The success of network-based projects often depends on the network chosen because networks vary in the degree to which they allow participants to develop and organize instructional activities. For example, the FrEdMail (now Global SchoolNet) is the most loosely organized in that nobody is empowered to require other participants to fulfill their responsibilities. The National Geographic Kids' Network has a highly structured administration with top-down curriculum development that ensures various stages of the project will be completed on time. The AT&T Learning Network and iEARN organize their projects around Learning Circles and take a middle ground approach that has a degree of structure, but also encourages participant creativity (Waugh, Levin, & Smith, 1994). Learning Circles promote theme-based project work integrated with the classroom curriculum. Working with Learning Circle partners from around the world helps students develop important interpersonal skills. For example, the 1996 AT&T virtual classroom project involved 54 groups of three schools each that used the HyperNews web-based forum system to communicate with each other. The award winning virtual classroom project, Web Odyssey (1996), was a collaborative effort of schools from Japan, Sweden, and Canada. Students created a multimedia magazine comparing their cultures including music, goals in life, language, spare time activities, and food.

Synchronous teleclassrooms to deliver direct video feeds to students, the internet web-based classroom, and corporate proprietary collaborative software products can be used successfully to develop the infrastructure of a VC (Cervino, 1997). Asynchronous technologies meet most interaction requirements for class lecture, individual and group assignments, interaction among peers, group discussions, and group decision making. Lotus Notes, AlexWare, First Class, and HyperNews are examples of text-based software packages that can be used to connect student PCs to the educational-facility host computers via standard modem connections. Synchronous chat technologies (MOOs) allow people to communicate interactively in real-time via the Internet. MOO examples include text-based Internet Relay Chat and PowWow and the graphically and audio enhanced software program called Palace. If instruction includes brainstorming or rapid idea sharing activities, researchers at the University of Michigan and University of Illinois recommend Internet multi-person chat. For large classes, however, chat has disadvantages. Protocols for class behavior are needed. Users indicate it is difficult to think, type and read at the same time. Multiple conversations can be difficult to follow. Suggestions for improving communication include using token ring, limiting group size, and queuing (Gibbons, 1997).

Tinker and Haavind (1997) say instructors need to be aware of strengths and weaknesses of the medium chosen. E-mail may be more universally available, but it supports only plain, unformatted text, and the message size is limited. Neufeld (1997) researched online methodologies and found using e-mail for group feedback is too slow; waiting for everyone to respond to a message makes discussion virtually impossible. Students less comfortable with face-to-face interactions were more active with e-mail, however. A listserver helps send e-mail to an entire special interest group, but users find that group conversations may be disjointed and out of sequence because e-mail arrives in the order it is sent. Conferences require a higher level of network connectivity than e-mail. Threads, referring to a sequence consisting of an initial message and its responses, are an important feature of conferencing software. Their use makes it easy for users to see and read inter-related messages. The Web, which supports formatted documents and hypermedia, can be used to create a highly linked environment for accessing data.

Hiltz (1995), Seagren and Watwood (1997) recommend class sizes of ten to a maximum of thirty because interactions take a great deal of time from the instructor. Lectures in written format can be boring; therefore, stimulate collaborative assignments that involve both social and task-oriented activities. Organize information, keep learning modules small, and use several conferences to address issues separately. Set a timeline for presentation of lectures, posting of assignments, and receipt of assignments. Students can work at their pace, but the group should complete modules together to maintain meaningful interactions. Tinker and Haavind (1997) found that students appreciate scheduling flexibility, but flexibility sometimes leads to procrastination that results in lack of collaboration. According to Kimball (1995), online experiences can be frustrating and disappointing when interaction with others in the group results in information overload, topic drift, or conversations that are just not valuable. There are several steps that facilitators can take to maintain quality learning interactions. A collaborative group needs to identify an explicit purpose for being. Each person in the group should have a defined role for contributions to the group. The facilitator should create an ambience (supportive, reflective, information-intensive, etc.) for working, nourish conversation by adding new material, provide feedback, adjust the pace, support and recruit new members, summarize multiple responses, track participation, and go with the flow of interactions.

Teaching and learning in the environment of a virtual classroom may not be for everyone. Seagren and Watwood (1997) say the self-motivated learner may not represent the larger population of students including masters and undergraduates and for that reason large-scale adoption of the virtual classroom technology may not be realized. Faculty must be willing to adapt to a new technology. So why bother? Many of the lesser desirable characteristics of classroom teaching are removed. These include gender dominance issues, minority/multicultural issues, physical disadvantages, and disruptive behavior. Students who experience group learning in a VC are most likely to judge the outcomes of online courses to be superior to the outcomes of traditional courses (Hiltz, 1995).

The virtual classroom is a teaching and learning environment located within a computer-mediated communication system. Teachers and learners must be highly motivated. As the facilitator of instruction, the teacher has a wide range of pedagogical techniques from which to choose to design instruction that fits the learning needs of all students. The effectiveness of instruction in the virtual classroom is only limited by the technology, by the ability of all participants to use it, and most of all, by everyone’s willingness to take an active role in the collaboration process.

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Note:  This paper was written in connection with doctoral coursework in online learning environments.  Patricia Deubel has since earned a Ph. D. in Computing Technology in Education from Nova Southeastern University. Email: deubelp@neo.rr.com Readers will note updated access to references since the paper was first written.