A study on the effectiveness of anonymous agents in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) for the facilitation of student learning and execution of team projects

Abstract

This thesis reports a research study on the investigation of the effectiveness of anonymous agents in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) in influencing students’ motivation and learning strategies, and facilitating team learning in team project development and execution. A case study was conducted with 451 pre-service teacher students at the Faculty of Education, Nakhon Sawan Rajabhat University, Thailand. 451 students and 198 students completed the requirements. Two sets of questionnaires were used for gathering data: one was the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and the Peer Evaluation Form. The online tool used in the experiment was Learnsquare and an eight weeks learning management plans was used to direct the students in the online learning. The three null hypotheses were tested from three research questions. The statistics analyses were Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), T- statistics, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and regression analysis. The research findings show that students who used anonymous agents experienced positive effects on three subscales under the motivation domain and one under the learning strategies domain. As regards to team collaboration, students who used anonymous agents reported positive effects on five team subscales on execution of team project. The results also show in terms of team projects, the number of non-completion is higher than completion for both groups that used anonymous agents and identifiable agents. However, students who used anonymous agents had a higher rate of completion. Based on the results, two models of learning and project succession were developed for use in online learning environment with project-based learning. The first model is for anonymous agents groups which use Effort Regulation strategies (ER) to help students in learning and completion of team projects. The second model is for identifiable agents groups which use Extrinsic Goal Orientation (EGO) to encourage students in learning and completion of team projects