Ed/IT Digital Library

Group Work in a Technology-Rich Environment

Penner, N. & Schulze, M. (2010). Group Work in a Technology-Rich Environment. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 21(1), 111-137. Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/31328.

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Journal Information

JILR

Journal of Interactive Learning Research
ISSN 1093-023X
Volume 21, Issue 1, January 2010
Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)  Chesapeake, VA

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Authors

Nikolai Penner, McMaster University, Canada; Mathias Schulze, University of Waterloo, Canada

Abstract

This paper addresses several components of successful language-learning methodologies—group work, task-based instruction, and wireless computer technologies—and examines how the interplay of these three was perceived by students in a second-year university foreign-language course. The technology component of our learning design plays a central role in this article. The main part is dedicated to the analysis and interpretation of student data collected in two different groups during two subsequent semesters. After a general discussion of the learning design of the course and task-based language learning, we analyze the interaction between two sets of factors: 1) the students’ use of information and communication technologies and their perception thereof, and 2) students’ perception of and participation in task-based instruction and group work.

Keywords