This article introduces work originating from the area of Networked Learning that seeks to problematise and critically discuss notions such as 'collaboration', 'community', and 'participation'. It argues that there is a dark and shadowy side to these ideals, which we need to attend to in a reflexive manner. To this end, it introduces ideas of…

The study investigated effects of computer-based messaging and training in communication strategies on interactions of deaf and typically hearing (TH) teammates in completing decision-making tasks without interpreter support. Fifteen teams, two deaf and two TH college students each, completed three decision-making tasks, one without messaging, one…

Multirole online games offer advantages for learning in business schools, as students process information and coordinate with others while pursuing measurable goals. Gaming environments can be complex, and the choices and timing of players' actions may have long-term effects on the state of the game. Team members practice communication skills as…

The discourse of small groups of 3-4 adults enrolled in a graduate business course was audio-recorded as they participated in a computer-supported simulation in which the group represented a firm and worked over a series of eight sessions in making a series of decisions. Discourse transcripts were analyzed using a coding scheme that classified…

This paper describes a half semester long curricular and instructional design project focusing on the design and implementation of a collaborative strategy into a fully online graduate class in adult education. The purposeful group assignment and team building strategy, collectively called the collaborative strategy, represents an instructional…

Service-learning literature regularly recommends small group activities as a learning tool but rarely examines the use of a broader application of a small group dynamics framework into a service-learning course. In this research, we explore the integration of small group dynamics frameworks into a service-learning classroom; this pedagogical…

Improving conditions of learning is a priority for schools, communities, states, and the federal government. Students are the stakeholders with the most to gain or lose and should be consulted about their classroom experiences as a basis for continuous school improvement planning. The population of 461 students from a rural public high school in…

The focus of this article is on digital literacy and students' use of digital sources. We are examining how students choose digital video sources when doing group work with tablets in a social studies project. The analysis centers on how students collaboratively negotiate and reason around their choice of video sources during an assignment about…

This paper focuses on the parameters of a semester-long project called the "Do Good" project, geared towards developing small group communication skills in undergraduate students. This project highlights participation in a social engagement project that allows students to bridge concepts learned in small group communication lectures…

While discussion protocols can provide helpful structures for conversations about data and other collaborative work, some drawbacks have been noted; for example, protocols can preclude discussion about important topics that are not within the scope of the protocol. Prior research has not yet explored how educators' personal identities and…

A problem-based learning (PBL) assumption is that silence is incompatible with collaborative learning. Although sociocultural studies have reinterpreted silence as collaborative, we must understand how silence occurs in PBL groups. This essay presents students' explanations of dominance, leadership, and silence as PBL group roles. An ethnographic…

Self-efficacy is essential to learning but what happens when learning is done as a result of a collective process? What is the role of individual self-efficacy in collective problem solving? This research examines the manifestation of self-efficacy in prediction markets that are configured as collective problem-solving platforms and whether…

Research has addressed what instructional conditions may inhibit or promote scientific argumentation. Little research, however, has paid attention to interpersonal factors that influence collaborative argumentation. The present study examines the ways interpersonal factors affected group dynamics, which influence the features of collaborative…

This article reports the results of a one-year longitudinal study examining a teaching intervention designed to enhance students' learning of critical thinking in Hong Kong. Seventy participating students (age 16-18) learned how to make reasoned arguments through a series of collaborative activities, including critical-thinking modelling tasks and…

The current study examines the impact of pretask modelling on the collaborative learning opportunities that occurred when Korean learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) carried out three tasks: dictogloss, decision-making, and information-gap. Forty-four adolescents who were enrolled in a required English course at a middle school in Korea…