Over the past two decades, curricula in higher education have increasingly incorporated collaborative learning. However, due to (a) large variations in students' domain-specific abilities (e.g. knowledge and/or skills) and the effort they invest into the collaboration and (b) teachers' limited knowledge about how to assess collaborative learning,…

Studies of cooperative learning have been documented extensively in the education and psychology literature. Much of the research on cooperative learning indicates that it leads to improvements in achievement, communication and interpersonal skills. This study compares grades on quiz assignments and exam performance of students in a traditional…

As countless regional, national, and international accrediting bodies continue to employ student engagement measures as mechanisms for quality assurance, universities become more intent on achieving this important gauge of student success. Specifically, the growth in enrollment in distance learning programs adds a unique level of complexity…

Leveraging a team's diverse perspectives can be a powerful way to foster team innovation. A common approach to leverage team differences involves tool-based approaches, including brainstorming, mind-mapping, and whiteboarding. However, the effective use of ideational tools as a means to innovation often assumes high levels of team cohesion and…

The process of making an original music album is highlighted to illustrate aspects of the music production process in addition to how leadership and related factors play out during this process. Background information is detailed regarding musicians as entrepreneurs, the music production process, group dynamics, learning approaches, aspects of…

Problem solving follows a cycle of inquiry where the individual iterates between finding possible paths and exploring their likely effectiveness before selecting one as a possible solution. The cycle is enhanced through proximal processes because the number of paths that can be explored in depth are greater when more people work on the same…

Research and societal trends indicate the necessity and permanency of teamwork skills in the workplace thus investigating the relationship between satisfaction and students' experiences of team and group work is essential. Taking a novel and comprehensive approach the current research study examined the effect of multiple antecedent conditions on…

This study examined how group members with differential levels (highest, middle, and lowest) of ability contributed to argumentative communication while facilitating a cooperative learning process in a small group communication course. Results demonstrated that during discussions: (1) highest ability members utilized more evidence than middle or…

This article aims to clarify the effects of conflicts on the task performance of supervisory boards in education. Management studies on conflicts on corporate boards sometimes find a positive effect and sometimes a negative effect on the performance of boards. These mixed findings are considered a result of the triggering of harmful personal…

Purpose: Against the background of empirical research on computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), the purpose of this paper is to advocate implementing collaborative learning activities into online distance education courses to engage learners in interactive knowledge construction. This study uses empirical evidence to illustrate how…

Collaborative assessment techniques are needed to align with shifting approaches to learning that center peer interaction. Furthermore, it is critical to understand how collaborative assessments work for students belonging to historically marginalized groups. This study reports the perspectives of four mixed race and Latina/Hispanic women…

This study investigates how students experience and describe group work in an online course in international business (IB) after being introduced to Barnes' exploratory talk ground rules (ETGRs) which promote norms for dialog that encourage participants to share ideas and information and to think together. This study examines the dialog in groups…

Student engagement as an important predictor of peer interaction and academic achievement has received considerable attention in second language classes. Despite its significance, how study groups engage in online writing activities in collaborative learning settings remains underexplored. To fill this gap, the present study explored how a group…

This study analyzed individual peer-review assessment data to understand the contributions of individual team members to in-class permanent-team outcomes, social loafing and loss of social interdependence among team members, and the achievement of team-lecture hybrid (TLH) instructional strategy learning outcomes in a team learning environment. A…

Since the introduction of brainstorming as an idea-generation technique to address organizational problems, researchers have struggled to replicate some of the claims around the technique. One major concern has been the differences in the number of ideas generated between established groups as found in industry versus the non-established groups…