The Impact of the E-Collaborative and Traditional Learning Styles on Learning Outcomes and Anxiety

Literature Review

Powerful instant messaging (IM) features QQ group, which consolidates collaborative learning. Farmer (2007) argued that IM was actively used by millions of people who were connected from anywhere such as home, office, mobile, providing increasing collaborative opportunities. IM supported learning could be especially placed in three contexts: workplace, school and home (Deng, 2008).

Numerous studies explored IM. Some studies (e.g. Klavins, 2005; Snyder and Field, 2006) addressed how to design an IM, while others focused on how teenagers used IM, (e.g. Ribak et al., 2002; Klavins, 2005; Snyder and Field, 2006) or the use of away messages (Baron et al., 2005). Grinter and Palen aimed to compare the similarities and differences of SMS and IM and the impact of communication technologies on the pursuit of independence (Grinter and Palen et al., 2006). Grinter and Palen (2002) found teenagers dealt with school work with the aid of IM. The frequency of using IM increased as they became more mature. But they did not provide details on how participants finished the assignment with the aid of IM. It could be generally acknowledged that IM, as a feature of QQ group, might facilitate the e-collaborative learning.