Virtual Teams and Preferential Attachment for Intrinsic Motivation

In recent years, increasing attention has been devoted to virtual learning. In the last decade, a large number of studies in Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) have assessed how social interaction, learning processes and outcomes in virtual settings are intertwined. Although recent research findings indicate that learners differ with respect to the amount and type of discourse contributed in virtual settings, little is known about the causes and consequences of these differences. The research presented here investigates how the motivational orientation (intrinsic/extrinsic) of a learner influences the interaction patterns with other learners. This study of 100 participants who collaborated together in a virtual setting to remediate deficiencies in economics indicates that sub-groups were formed within virtual teams. These sub-groups are based on motivation profiles and differ with respect to the amount and the direction of discourse activity. The research results reveal that the motivation profile influences with whom a learner is interacting. Extrinsically motivated learners have a preferential attachment to connect to highly intrinsically motivated learners. However, intrinsically motivated learners prefer to discuss mainly among themselves, implying that extrinsically motivated learners will receive less feedback and discourse possibilities from other members within the virtual team. Our findings might explain why in distance learning large differences in participation are found and why certain learners are more inclined to drop-