965 research outputs found

    Internal and external scripts in computer-supported collaborative inquiry learning

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    We investigated how differently structured external scripts interact with learners’ internal scripts concerning individual knowledge acquisition in a Web-based collaborative inquiry learning environment. 90 students from two secondary schools participated. Two versions of an external collaboration script (high vs. low structured) supporting collaborative argumentation were embedded within a Web-based collaborative inquiry learning environment. Students’ internal scripts were classified as either high or low structured, establishing a 2x2-factorial design. Results suggest that the high structured external collaboration script supported the acquisition of domain-general knowledge of all learners regardless of their internal scripts. Learners’ internal scripts influenced the acquisition of domain-specific knowledge. Results are discussed concerning their theoretical relevance and practical implications for Web-based inquiry learning with collaboration scripts

    A Dyadic Composition to Foster Virtual Team Effectiveness: An Experimental Study

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    The importance of effectiveness for virtual teamwork continues to gain momentum as technology and globalization of work accelerate. The implementation of virtual teams provides one approach to enhance competitiveness, overcoming the disadvantages of space and time differences through collaborative technologies. The influence of structure to virtual team performance has not been clearly established in the literature. The purpose of this research study was to investigate the effectiveness of a dyad structured approach for virtual teams using a quasi-experimental research design. This research investigated four questions related to the influence of structure on virtual team effectiveness related to task performance, communication frequency, and team satisfaction. Research questions included: (1) How does a dyad structure influence virtual team performance?, (2) What is the impact of a dyad structure on virtual team effectiveness with respect to task outcome?, (3) What is the impact of a dyad structure on virtual team effectiveness with respect to team satisfaction?, and (4) What is the impact of dyadic communication on virtual team effectiveness in terms of reducing overflow communication? The research approach was a quasi-experiment design to test the effect of a dyad structure, compared to self-structured, design on virtual team performance. A total of one-hundred eleven participants were placed in thirty-eight virtual teams, including dyad and self-structured assignments. The participants included graduate and undergraduate students from different universities in the US, Israel, Colombia, and the Netherlands. The teams completed a task using a web-based virtual environment, reached a team decision, and reported their satisfaction and perceptions of the experience through a self-reporting web-based survey. Hypotheses on task performance, team satisfaction, and the amount of communication were tested for differences between dyad structured and self-structured virtual teams. Statistical analyses were conducted to assess differences between the dyad and self-structured teams. The results showed significance differences between the two virtual team structural configurations. Dyadic teams performed better in arriving at the task solution using less communication to finish the task. Dyadic teams were also more satisfied with their task solution than the self-structured teams. However, results indicated that dyadic teams were not satisfied with operating as a dyadic team in this study. The research also demonstrated that team satisfaction was the most significant predictor of virtual team effectiveness. The research document concludes with implications for further research and suggests guidance for improved effectiveness in design and implementation of virtual teams

    Effects of computer-supported collaboration script and incomplete concept maps on web design skills in an online design-based learning environment

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    Web design skills are an important component of media literacy. The aim of our study was to promote university students’ web design skills through online design-based learning (DBL). Combined in a 2x2-factorial design, two types of scaffolding were implemented in an online DBL environment to support the students through their effort to design, build, modify, and publish web sites on processes and outcomes measures, namely collaboration scripts and incomplete concept maps. The results showed that both treatments had positive effects on collaborative (content-related discourse quality, collaboration skills, and quality of published web sites) and individual (domain-specific knowledge and skills related to the design and building of websites) learning outcomes. There was synergism between the two scaffolds in that the combination of the collaboration script and incomplete concept maps produced the most positive results. To be effective, online DBL thus needs to be enhanced by appropriate scaffolds, and both collaboration scripts and incomplete concept maps are effective examples

    The Associated Impacts of Stress and Expectancy Upon the Elite Coach-Athlete Relationship in Individual Based Sports

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    This project of research presents a series of three studies that evolved over the duration of the body of work. Steered by existing research and the findings of each individual study, this project investigates associated impacts of stress and expectancy on the dynamics of interactions between coaches and athletes in elite level individual based sports. Specifically, the impacts of stress and expectancies on empathic accuracy. Study one explored the stress and coping experiences of six male elite athletics coaches in the UK. The findings indicated that coaches experienced a vast array of stressors, with stress increasing around competition. However, although participants acknowledged facilitative effects of experiencing stress (e.g., increased focus, motivation, & productivity), they also reported a number of perceived debilitative behavioural and communication changes towards their athletes at times of stress. For example, withdrawal and reduced interaction, concealing true feelings and emotions, and increased physical distance where possible. Experience, learning, and support were identified as the most effective coping strategies, and coaches reported limited use of effective psychological skills. While all emerging themes were deemed important, debilitative behavioural and communication changes towards athletes in response to increased stress, specifically around competition, was the most cited theme reported by all elite coaches. Thus, representing a strong indicator of the potential detrimental impact of stress on the dynamics of interactions between coaches and athletes in elite sport. To further investigate stress and coach-athlete interaction in elite sport, study two examined stress and empathic accuracy in coaches and athletes participating in elite level individual based sports. That is, how accurately coaches and athletes perceived the psychological condition of each other, moment-to-moment, over time, while experiencing stressors associated with different environments (i.e., training & competition). The results indicated that coaches and athletes experienced significantly increased stress during competition compared to training. Empathic accuracy for both coaches and athletes was also found to be higher in competition than in training. However, participants achieved relatively low to moderate levels of empathic accuracy throughout this study. Moreover, the elite coaches recorded varying levels of empathic accuracy with different athletes in their training groups. Finally, study three explored coach expectancies as a potential antecedent or barrier in determining levels of empathic accuracy achieved between coach and athlete. This study investigated the relationship between a coach’s expectancies and levels of empathic accuracy achieved by coach-athlete dyads from the same elite cycling training squad. Athletes’ perceptions of coach treatment were also investigated. Results showed coach-athlete dyads containing high expectancy athletes achieved higher empathic accuracy, compared to those involving low expectancy athletes. In addition, high expectancy athletes perceived the coach gave them less negative feedback, demanded a greater level of work from them, and held higher expectations for them compared to their low expectancy counterparts. These results suggested the coach’s behaviour might have been congruent with their expectations, which in turn may have affected levels of empathic accuracy achieved, and influenced perceived differential coach treatment. This project of research has contributed to researchers’ knowledge of the stress and coping experiences of elite coaches in the UK and thus presented key evidence to support the development of effective coping interventions for coaches working alongside world-class athletes. It has provided vital evidence of the potential impacts of stress on the dynamics of interactions between coaches and athletes in different environments, specifically extending broader literature on empathic accuracy through a longitudinal examination in a unique setting. Lastly, it has expanded the limited dialogue surrounding the relationship between a coach’s expectancies and the subsequent effectiveness of interpersonal perception with their athletes

    Maximizing the Benefits of Collaborative Learning in the College Classroom

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    abstract: This study tested the effects of two kinds of cognitive, domain-based preparation tasks on learning outcomes after engaging in a collaborative activity with a partner. The collaborative learning method of interest was termed "preparing-to-interact," and is supported in theory by the Preparation for Future Learning (PFL) paradigm and the Interactive-Constructive-Active-Passive (ICAP) framework. The current work combined these two cognitive-based approaches to design collaborative learning activities that can serve as alternatives to existing methods, which carry limitations and challenges. The "preparing-to-interact" method avoids the need for training students in specific collaboration skills or guiding/scripting their dialogic behaviors, while providing the opportunity for students to acquire the necessary prior knowledge for maximizing their discussions towards learning. The study used a 2x2 experimental design, investigating the factors of Preparation (No Prep and Prep) and Type of Activity (Active and Constructive) on deep and shallow learning. The sample was community college students in introductory psychology classes; the domain tested was "memory," in particular, concepts related to the process of remembering/forgetting information. Results showed that Preparation was a significant factor affecting deep learning, while shallow learning was not affected differently by the interventions. Essentially, equalizing time-on-task and content across all conditions, time spent individually preparing by working on the task alone and then discussing the content with a partner produced deeper learning than engaging in the task jointly for the duration of the learning period. Type of Task was not a significant factor in learning outcomes, however, exploratory analyses showed evidence of Constructive-type behaviors leading to deeper learning of the content. Additionally, a novel method of multilevel analysis (MLA) was used to examine the data to account for the dependency between partners within dyads. This work showed that "preparing-to-interact" is a way to maximize the benefits of collaborative learning. When students are first cognitively prepared, they seem to make the most efficient use of discussion towards learning, engage more deeply in the content during learning, leading to deeper knowledge of the content. Additionally, in using MLA to account for subject nonindependency, this work introduces new questions about the validity of statistical analyses for dyadic data.Dissertation/ThesisPh.D. Educational Psychology 201

    Good for learning, bad for motivation? A meta-analysis on the effects of computer-supported collaboration scripts

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    Scripting computer-supported collaborative learning has been shown to greatly enhance learning, but is often criticized for hindering learners’ agency and thus undermining learners’ motivation. Beyond that, what makes some CSCL scripts particularly effective for learning is still a conundrum. This meta-analysis synthesizes the results of 53 primary studies that experimentally compared the effect of learning with a CSCL script to unguided collaborative learning on at least one of the variables motivation, domain learning, and collaboration skills. Overall, 5616 learners enrolled in K-12, higher education, or professional development participated in the included studies. The results of a random-effects meta-analysis show that learning with CSCL scripts leads to a non-significant positive effect on motivation (Hedges’ g = 0.13), a small positive effect (Hedges’ g = 0.24) on domain learning and a medium positive effect (Hedges’ g = 0.72) on collaboration skills. Additionally, the meta-analysis shows how scaffolding single particular collaborative activities and scaffolding a combination of collaborative activities affects the effectiveness of CSCL scripts and that synergistic or differentiated scaffolding is hard to achieve. This meta-analysis offers the first counterevidence against the widespread criticism that CSCL scripts have negative motivational effects. Furthermore, the findings can be taken as evidence for the robustness of the positive effects on domain learning and collaboration skills

    Spontaneous Behavioral Coordination: the Impact of Achieved and Desired Interpersonal Closeness on Synchrony and Mimicry

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    The purpose of the present dissertation was to examine the impact of interpersonal closeness and the desire for interpersonal closeness on displays of behavioral synchrony and mimicry, simultaneously. Groups of two strangers (N = 182 participants, N = 91 dyads) were randomly assigned to complete a “closeness-inducing” task where partners took turns asking and answering intimate questions or a comparison “small-talk” task where partners asked and answered less-intimate questions. Additionally, dyads were randomly assigned to complete these tasks in real time over Zoom, or by reading and responding to the task’s questions over text. These tasks were intended to generate varying levels of interpersonal closeness among participants or to prevent participants from feeling close and instead inspire the desire for closeness. Then, all participants, regardless of prior experimental condition assignment, completed a second problem-solving task where their behavioral synchrony and mimicry were measured using multiple methodological approaches. Specifically, synchrony was measured using global impression ratings whereas mimicry for gestures and postural displays was measured using global impression ratings and molecular coding approaches to allow for discriminant and convergent validity analyses. The effects of the experimental conditions on participants’ reported feelings of closeness and the desire for closeness after their first interaction were examined along with the effect of these experimental conditions on participants’ displays of behavioral synchrony and mimicry in a subsequent interaction. Then, collapsing across experimental condition, the effect of participants’ feeling of closeness with their partner after their first interaction on their behavioral synchrony during their second interaction was tested alongside the effect of participants’ desire for closeness with their partner after their first interaction on their behavioral mimicry. Results generally supported that the more participants reported feeling close with one another, the more they synchronized their behavior during a subsequent interaction. Additionally, the less close participants felt to their partner, but the more they desired to feel close, the more participants mimicked their partner in a subsequent interaction. These results are discussed in relation to understanding the differing nomological networks of behavioral synchrony and mimicry and recommendations for future measurement approaches are made
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