The Peer Assessment Collaboration Evaluation (PACE) Tool is an original peer assessment tool designed and developed by the authors to address the prevalence of social loafing in group projects in online learning environments. Online group projects offer students collaborative opportunities to engage in critical thinking and problem-solving.…

Traditionally, education has been largely delivered in an in-person format; however, an increasing number of courses are being delivered entirely online or with a blend of online and in-person components. These formats differ along various dimensions, such as the quantity and quality of interpersonal interactions and connections, which will likely…

Team projects are a component of many business courses. The objective is to build team skills in addition to learning subject matter. However, instructors often pay less attention to team design and behavior and assume students already have or will learn team skills on their own. The authors examined the effect of providing structure to team work…

Online collaborative learning (OCL) has become a common instructional strategy in higher education for developing students' skills in collaboration, problem-solving, and critical thinking. Cognitive engagement in OCL evolves dynamically, but we do not yet fully understand which patterns of cognitive engagement are conducive to OCL and when to…

In this study, it was aimed to examine the prospective teachers' preferences regarding group work, the process of structuring the group work, and assessment of their performance within the group. In the research, case study design was used. The participants of the study consisted of 62 prospective teachers studying in the Department of Early…

The purpose of this study was to explore how team members identify the social loafers on their teams and how they explain and manage social loafers' behavior. The participants (n = 49) in the study included members of student teams participating in a service project as a part of their coursework. We collected multiple sources of information:…

Relationships among self-construal, self-efficacy, and group behaviors during a group problem-solving task with friends and acquaintances were hypothesized. The sample comprised 126 students in Grades 8-11, from 5 randomly selected government high schools, organized into 42 groups. Data collection involved self-reports and observations.…

Introduction: While group work that takes place in education contexts has been studied by researchers, student collaborative research behaviour has received less attention. This empirical case study examined the strategies that students use and the obstacles they encounter while working in collaborative information seeking contexts on an in-class…

Groups are central to problem-based learning (PBL) and educational and professional outcomes relevant to clinical education. However, PBL groups in practice may differ from theoretical conceptions of groups. Therefore, this study explored students' understandings of the purpose and value of PBL groups for their learning. We conducted a…

Teamwork factors can facilitate team members, committing themselves to the purposes of maximizing their own and others' contributions and successes. It is important for online instructors to comprehend students' expectations on learning collaboratively. The aims of this study were to investigate online collaborative learning experiences and to…

Collaborative learning is something that all students will employ once they finish their formal education, and while it isn't something that can be objectively tested by standardized exams, it is something that can be taught. Learning to work in groups is simultaneously a way of learning and a skill worth learning. Teachers should acknowledge that…

This study explores whether randomly assigning group membership enhances the student learning experience. The paper starts with a critical analysis of the approaches to student learning within higher education and how these approaches conflict with findings from applied psychology on group behaviour. The study adopts a serendipitous qualitative…

Current distance education benefits greatly from educational software that makes group work possible for students who are separated in time and space. However, some students prefer distance education because they can work on their own. This paper explores how students react to expectations on behalf of the course provider to do their assignments…

Reports a survey of students' satisfaction in a cooperative learning college-level introductory biology course offered, with changes, over 3 years. The survey found that cognitive diversity increases group conflict and concluded that there can be no "perfect course" due to the diversity of cognitive styles found in any class. Using a…

Reports on a study of the impact of individual feedback on achievement, attitudes, and behavior in cooperative learning groups on 56 8th-grade students. Finds that individual feedback was more effective than group feedback and that individual feedback resulted in more positive relationships toward others. (CFR)