The Nature of Student Group Online Interactions in Learning ICT Education

Abstract

This study investigated the nature of student group interactions through the incorporation of online collaborative learning (OCL) initiative, with its aim to enhance students' learning in a Malaysian tertiary multimedia and ICT education course. Data collected from questionnaires, interviews and online forum transcripts were the basis for an interpretive analysis of students' interactions in online collaborative learning and to assess the extent to which it was successful in enhancing students' learning. The results showed four types of student group interactions styles: strategic, task directed, peripheral and disengaged which in support of the students' cognitive, social and emotional development. The research also found that the incorporation of online collaborative learning can lead to the facilitation of the student and student's group learning process and potential constraints from the technology or the lack of social and verbal cues can lead to different working methods of communication and different styles of interactions and student's engagement.