A Study of Connectivity between Face-to-Face Communication and CMC in Collaborative Learning.

Abstract

This paper studies the design of intra-group communication observed among students who utilized CMC as one of the learning resources in a collaborative learning setting. The study was conducted in a learner-constructing course in order to clarify students' own designs of collaboration. Results show that the groups which successfully utilized CMC for their learning had active participation and understood their discussions well - building stronger communication links between FTF and CMC. In consequence, a learning environment design in FTF is needed to promote students' participation and comprehension ; therefore, a possibility of an "open tool" for sharing discussion is proposed.