Exploring Interaction Behaviour and Performance of Online Collaborative Learning Teams

Studying and analysing the collaborative behaviour of online learning teams and how this behaviour is related and affects task performance is a complex process. This paper presents an integrated approach that analyzes the participatory attitudes of group members in collaborative learning activities (group functioning) in relation to the individual and group learning outcomes (task performance). To that end, we first provide principled criteria and methods for evaluating collaborative problem-solving situations and then we identify different group types in terms of their degree of success at group functioning and task levels. Our objective is two-fold: assessing the effectiveness and adequacy of the evaluation criteria and methods, and exploring the interaction behaviour of different collaborative group types with respect to their performance.