Does Collaborative Learning Influence Persistence to the Second Year of College?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether engaging in collaborative learning influences persistence to the 2nd year of college among 2,987 college freshmen at 19 institutions. Considering potential confounders such as sex, race, precollege academic ability, type of institution attended, college coursework taken, academic motivation, and the clustered nature of the data, those students who engage in collaborative learning are significantly more likely than students who do not learn collaboratively to persist to the 2nd year of college. The results of our analyses suggest the influence of collaborative learning on persistence affects students similarly, regardless of individual differences by sex, race, or tested precollege academic ability. Lastly, the influence of collaborative learning on persistence appears to be mediated by peer interactions. That is, learning collaboratively leads to greater levels of positive peer interactions, which in turn is associated with greater odds of persisting to the 2nd year of college.