153

rc10 1/29/2010 9:13:22

General Session - Conference Presentation Only (no formal paper)

//Albert Ingram, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA, aingram@kent.edu// //Kristin McCombs, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA, mccomb1@kent.edu// //Christopher Richards, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA, clrichar@kent.edu// //Christopher Wills, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA, cwills@kent.edu//
 * Learning Of and Through Online Collaboration**

Research has detailed the learning benefits of collaboration, and online learning presents new opportunities for collaborative learning and projects. Students can feel more connected to peers who may be great geographic distances from them. Some prior research has provided guidelines for fostering effective online collaboration, but there has so far been little work done on how students may learn to collaborate effectively and thereby reap greater benefits from group projects.

Many Web 2.0 technologies, such as wikis, are designed to foster interaction and collaboration. When used in an online learning environment, these tools can enable students to contribute to creating a variety of products Students can reap educational benefits from contributing content as well as from the process of collaboration itself. Thus, the tools, used effectively, can foster active participation amongst classmates, help them with peer interactions, and discourage them from dropping a course. With more students gravitating toward online learning, interactivity and collaboration are important considerations for maximizing their academic potential.

This presentation reviews some of the guidelines for fostering collaboration as well as the results of doing so. It concentrates on discussing ways of teaching students to collaborate more effectively in various online environments. This appears to be a bottleneck in determining whether the full value of online collaboration is attained in teaching and learning. We propose guidelines to enhance this step as well as research to determine their effectiveness.

All Audiences online collaboration