Examining Students’ Participation Behaviors in Whole-Group Activities to Explore a Group Formation Method

• In Event: Interaction and Collaboration in Online Learning Environments

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to explore a group formation method that can be used practically by an instructor to assign students into small groups in online courses. Employing quantitative methods, whole group data (843 messages/70432words) and small group data (732 messages/59394 words) were analyzed. Two major findings are: (1) Individuals’ participation behaviours in whole group activities during initial period of a course were significantly correlated with their participation in later small group activity. (2) Individuals’ participation in small groups was explained about 40% by peer members’ participation. Based on the findings, this research suggests instructors to use the information revealed during initial period of whole group activities to allocate students into small groups.

Author

• Namsook Jahng, The University of British Columbia