Measuring the Importance of Collaborative Learning for the Effectiveness of ALN: A Multi-Measure, Multi-Method Approach

Are there any differences in outcomes between traditional classroom-based university courses and courses delivered via ALN, which feature extensive on-line interaction among students? Under what conditions are ALN courses most effective? What can be done to improve the publishability of ALN evaluations, and counter the attacks of critics? After providing background on the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) Virtual Classroom (VC) projects, this paper describes three studies that address the issue of the importance of collaborative learning strategies to the success of ALN for students. A three-year longitudinal field study of 26 courses that are part of an undergraduate degree in Information Systems compared the process and outcomes of learning using an on-line anytime/anywhere environment to those for comparison sections taught in the traditional classroom. An embedded field experiment looked at the separate and joint effects of working on-line versus in the classroom and of working individually versus in groups. Semi-structured interviews with experienced ALN faculty probed their pedagogy and their perceptions of whether or not students learned, on the average, more, less, or about the same as in their traditional sections. The results support the premise that when students are actively involved in collaborative (group) learning on-line, the outcomes can be as good as or better than those for traditional classes, but when individuals are simply receiving posted material and sending back individual work, the results are poorer than in traditional classrooms.