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When participating in group work and collaboration, students have the opportunity toimprove their retention of information and learning. While the benefits ofonline group work using asynchronous technology is documented, research on itseffectiveness and success in higher education courses is not conclusive,especially when compared with the consistent, positive results found in theface-to- face environment. Researchers have identified number ofchallenges in online group work. Fewer channels of communication and lack ofimmediacy when compared to face-to-face group work are a few of the noted limitations (Finegold and Cooke 2006). Thus, research is needed toimprove the online group work experience. Synchronous technologies, which enable students to interact with others in real time via text, audio, and visual tools, are being increasingly adopted in online courses. These technologies have been shown to improve traditional, asynchronous online courses. Synchronous technologies in online courses support clearer communication, promotesocial presence and community, decrease feelings of isolation often felt withinan asynchronous e-learning environment, and encourage learning confidence (Rockinson-Szapkiw, et al, 2010; Wang and Chen, 2007). These empiricalfindings support Media Richness theory, which suggests that the more face-to-facelike a communication is the better and clearer the communications(Trevino,Lengel and Daft, 1987). Given the positive results of integratingsynchronous technologies in online courses, investigating the ability ofsynchronous technologies to improve online students’ group work experiences isworthy of attention. Thus, this presentation will provide informationabout a study that examined if the type of technology used to complete onlinegroup projects influences online graduate students’ course points (i.e. gradesin the course) and sense of community of inquiry (i.e. social presence[SP],cognitive presence [CP], and teacher presence [TP]). A casualcomparative research design and alone-way multivariate analysis of variance(MANOVA) was used. For the one-way MANOVA, preliminary assumption testing wasconducted. The assumption of the homogeneity of variance-covariance and theassumption of homogeneity were violated. Thus, a more stringent significancelevel of .01 was set. Pillai’s Trace was also utilized, as it is more robustthan Wilk’s Lambda when assumptions are violated. Results for additionalassumption testing demonstrated no major violations in assumptions. Results forthe MANOVA yielded statistically significant difference between the two groupson the combined dependent variables, Pillai’s Trace = .13, F (4,104) = 3.75, p= .007, partial eta squared = .13. The observed power was.88. Based on these results, evidence was insufficient to reject the nullhypothesis: Students who used synchronous technology to completed online groupwork differed significantly in their sense of social presence, cognitivepresence, teaching presence, and course points when compared to students whoused only asynchronous technology to completed online group work. Using thestatistical significance level adjusted using the Bonferroni method (.003),univariate ANOVAs demonstrated that differences existed between groups, for SP, F (1,107) = 9.29,p = 003, partial eta squared = .08, observe power =.86; TP, F (1, 107) =9.42, p = 003, partial eta squared = .09, observepower = .86; and CP, F (1, 107) = 13.78, p < . 001, partial eta squared = .11, observe power = .96. Based on Cohen’s threshold of .01 for small, .06 for medium, and .14 for large, the effect sizes for significant results weremoderate to large for all thedependent variables. While students usingsynchronous technologies for group work had higher course points than thoseusing only asynchronous technologies for group work, based on the adjustedsignificance level set, course points did not reach statistical significance, F(1, 107) = 4.02, p = .04, partial eta squared = .04, observed power =.53. In summary, these results of this study support the assumption ofmedia richness theory that the use of rich media (i.e. media that supports communication through a number of channels, including accessibility of instantfeedback and the capacity to convey cues such as body language and tone ofvoice) when compared with lean media (i.e. Media that has few communicationchannels, often lacking instant feedback and verbal cues) results in more effective communication (Daft& Lengel, 1984). Moreover, as there was a significantdifference in students’ perceived social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence, this suggests that the opportunity to use synchronoustechnologies, such as an e-conferencing system, may provide online students inremote geographical locations a more successful and effective way to completegroup work. Finegold, R. D. &Cooke, L. (2006). Exploring theattitudes, experiences, and dynamics ofinteraction in online groups. Internetand Higher Education, Volume 9, 201-215.Rockinson-Szapkiw, A. J., Baker, J.D.,Neukrug, E., & Hanes, J. (2010).The efficacy of computer mediated communicationtechnologies to augment and to support effective online counselor education.Journal of Technology in Human Services, Volume 28, Issue 3, 161-177.Trevino, L. K., Lengel,R. K., and Daft, R. L. (1987). Media symbolism, media richness and mediachoice in organizations. Communication Research,Volume 14 Issue 5,553-574Wang,Y., and Chen, N.S. (2007). Online synchronous language learning: SLMS overthe Internet. Innovate, Volume 3 Issue3.Retrieved from http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=337
Authors
| Name | Amanda Rockinson-Szapkiw |
| Affiliation | Liberty University |
