Individual differences and the use of collaborative technologies in education: an empirical investigation

This study investigated the extent to which students' participation in and satisfaction with a computer-mediated collaborative learning system was affected by their preference for autonomy and anxiety about the use of computers. The results indicated that although students varied significantly in terms of their preference for autonomy and anxiety about the use of computers, there was no significant difference in participation and satisfaction levels between low and high computer anxiety students or between those with a low preference for autonomy relative to those with a high preference for autonomy.

1. Introduction

For the past several years group work in organizations and in educational settings is being conducted in settings other than face-to-face environments. For example, phone conferences are popular modes of accomplishing group tasks. Of late, in educational settings systems such as Blackboard and WebCT have made it possible for groups of students to transcend time and space boundaries. No longer must cooperative learning always occur in face-to-face settings. Collaborative learning technologies (CLT), also known as group support systems (GSS), facilitate students' group work by allowing them to conduct “virtual meetings” both synchronously (chat) and asynchronously (bulletin-boards). Thus, CLTs help solve the problem of dominant or shy students and the need for each student to wait for his or her turn in order to participate. A number of recent studies have examined various aspects of collaborative technologies on group decision making (see [10] for a recent comprehensive review of GSS research).