Dyads Versus Groups: Using Different Social Structures in Peer Review to Enhance Online Collaborative Learning Processes

Abstract

The Peer Review (PR) is a very popular technique to support socio-constructivist and connectivist learning processes, online or face-to-face, at all educational levels, in both formal and informal contexts.The idea behind this technique is that sharing views and opinions with others by discussing with peers and receiving and providing formative feedback enriches the quality of learning. In this study, a class of trainee teachers conducts an online PR. The resulting interactions are analyzed and evaluated by the researchers through the application of an evaluation model based on both quantitative and qualitative data. In particular, two conditions are studied, namely the PR in groups versus the PR in dyads. Results show that students who carried out the PR in groups were less active from the cognitive point of view, while they devoted more effort to deal with organizational matters and discourse facilitation.

Purpose, Pedagogy and Philosophy: “Being” an Online Lecturer

“…Research, focusing on online learning in educational settings, has largely focused on the student rather than the lecturer (Arbaugh, 2014). Studies have explored students' loss of social and emotional cues in the online space (Guillaume et al, 2016;Slagter van Tyron & Bishop, 2006), the challenges of creating social presence for learners (Kehrwald, 2008;Laffey, Lin, & Lin, 2006), communities of inquiry (Akyol & Garrison, 2011;Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000;Garrison, 2012;Joksimovic, Gasevic, Kovanovic, Adescope, & Hatala, 2014;Pozzi, Ceregini, Ferlino, & Persico, 2016), and the influence of motivation and self-efficacy (Kim, Glassman, & Williams, 2015;Stott, 2016). These factors also influence the lecturer experience, posing new challenges due to online delivery, particularly when facilitating collaborative activities (Palloff & Pratt, 2004).…”