Methods for Analyzing Collaboration in Online Communications

Abstract

With many educational institutions now making use of the Internet for the delivery of courses, many educators are showing interest in non-standard methodologies for teaching and learning — methodologies such as the use of online group collaborative or cooperative work. It is clearly beneficial for educators keen to introduce group learning into a tertiary environment to first familiarize themselves with the existing literature. However, much of the literature conflates the two terms, hence implementation methods and research results are hard to assess. This chapter attempts to clearly distinguish the two terms “collaborative” and “cooperative” so that they can be used appropriately and unambiguously, briefly describes the advantages and shortcomings of each, and concludes with some remarks as to the application of such methods in an online environment.