Measuring the effect of an online learning community on engineering cooperative education students' perceived and measured learning.

摘要

This quasi-experimental, static-group comparison study of two non-equivalent groups examined how Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) community participation of at-work, cooperative education students affected student perceived performance, perceived learning, and measured learning with student grade point average (GPA) and work term as covariates. The relationship between student social-media use and community participation was examined. The study included 47 matched pairs of electrical engineering students, primarily Caucasian male, from a large urban research university. The treatment and control groups completed the existing curriculum, the treatment group participated in the WIL community in BlackboardRTM and completed a social-media use survey and community evaluation questions.;I found a significant negative correlation between students' who perceived themselves as having strong leadership skills and the level of participation in the wiki. I found no significant correlations (with bloggers) and a negative significant correlation (without the bloggers) in the relationship between social media use and the level of blogging and the overall participation in the WIL community. The level or type of WIL community participation did not affect perceived performance, perceived learning, or measured learning. Students did not believe the community enhanced their learning nor did they enjoy participating; however, they liked to read about or comment on other students' experiences. They did not like BlackboardRTM or the weekly posting requirement and suggested these items change in the future.;Implications for instructional designers/distance educators are the perceived difficulty using BlackboardRTM potentially affecting student use, the need for tools/interfaces that notify the user of new community content or participants, and that instructional technology should be piloted for student ease of use and perceived usefulness. Experiential learning practitioners need to promote the academic focus of work experiences to frame assignments, such as an online community and assessment, as important for student learning through work.