An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Cooperative Learning in Introductory Information Systems

This study presents results from a field experiment investigating the efficacy of cooperative learning on individual students in an undergraduate introduction to information systems class. Statistical analysis of the data indicates that cooperative learning did not have a positive effect on individual student learning. This result is in contrast to effective individual learning outcomes associated with cooperative techniques reported in the education literature on cooperative learning. Furthermore, in completing a project, cooperative project groups did not have significantly higher project scores than individual students who undertook the project.