The effects of informal cooperative learning pedagogy on teaching effectiveness, task orientation, and learning satisfaction in undergraduate classrooms in Ethiopia

Abstract

While cooperative learning (CL) has gained considerable attention in the current discourse about undergraduate quality education, it is minimally used in higher education classrooms, particularly in the developing countries context. Using a non-equivalent control groups design and a sample of undergraduate students (n = 340) from Jimma University, Ethiopia. This study examined the effects of informal CL on teaching effectiveness, task orientation, and learning satisfaction, together with the convergence between these latent variables. For these, the authors used t-test, one-way MANOVA, bivariate correlations, and structural equation modeling (SEM). As predicted, t tests and MANOVA results indicated that participation in the informal CL pedagogy does have low to medium effect on each variable measured (.031≤ partial η 2 ≥.049 or 0.36 ≤ Cohen’s d ≥ 0.45). This suggests that higher perception of teaching effectiveness, more task orientation, and greater learning satisfaction were associated with informal CL rather than traditional lecture instructions. In addition, as predicted, SEM analyses also confirmed the significant positive associations between the teaching effectiveness, task orientation, and learning satisfaction (.79 ≤ r ≥.85). Beyond this, the process indicators teaching effectiveness and task orientation, together predicted 85% of the variance in learning satisfaction. Implications are discussed.