An Empirical Investigation of Electronic Groups in the Classroom

Abstract

This experimental study investigated how computer-mediated communications influence team process and outcome variables in a classroom assignment. Traditional in-class teams were compared with teams composed of members from different universities who relied on computer-mediated communications for task accomplishment. Results indicate that significant differences existed across the two formats in both process and outcome variables. For example, teams relying on computer-mediated communications were less satisfied as team members and with the project and felt that they gave more individual effort, but they had a higher amount of overall learning compared with traditional in-class teams.