Why is collaboration in online education so important?

Students on teams were 79% more likely to say that they would definitely take another class on the same platform. Comparable students on teams were 81% more likely to say that they would definitely recommend the class to a friend. These data use multivariate regressions to control for student demographics such as language, age, gender as well as to control for engagement metrics such as the number of sign-ins to the platform, forum posts and number of hours planned to work on the course at the beginning.

Students on teams and with mentors are more engaged with the class and stick with the class longer.

In an 8 week class, individuals with a team (but no mentor), remained active on the site (defined by time of last login) 100% longer (equivalent to four weeks) than individuals who were not on a team (but who had logged in at least 3 times and submitted an assignment).

Individuals with a team and a mentor remained active on the site 50% longer than individuals on a team but with no mentor (equivalent to four weeks longer).

Finally, this equals a median date of last login of Dec. 10th for those with a team and a mentor.

Effectively, most individuals with a team and a mentor are likely to stick with the online class until the end. 

Students on teams and with mentors are more engaged with the site and the platform. Students in teams sign into the NovoEd site an average of 39 times during a course.

Students working individually sign in an average of 8 times. Students in teams sign into the platform nearly 5 times more frequently. These differences are statistically significant (p<0.001).

When we separate teams with and without mentors, we find that mentors also have a significant impact on the frequency with which students sign into the platform.

Those with a mentor sign into the platform 26% more often. Individuals on teams without a mentor sign in an average of 35 times whereas those with mentors sign in an average of 44 times (p<0.001).

Team leaders sign in the most often with an average of 58 sign-ins.

We can also examine engagement in terms of the frequency of posts in the forums. Students with teams create an average of 2.3 posts, which represents a posting frequency

that is 32 times higher for the students in teams. Students who are the team leader for their team create an average of 4 posts, representing

an 8x higher rate of posting compared with students without a team who were still submitting assignments.

Students with a mentor post 136% more often on the forum. Of the students on teams, those without a mentor create 1.9 posts on average, while those with a mentor create 2.6 posts on average (p<0.001).

Regression results controlling for demographics and hours planned to work in the class so that students on teams post over 3x more often on the class forum.

Students on teams and/or with mentors are more likely to complete and pass the course. Of those who work in teams, 32% passed the course and earned a certificate. Of those

who had mentors, 44% passed the course compared with only 21% of those who were on teams but did not have mentors.

Those with mentors and on a team had a 38% greater likelihood of passing the course compared with those on a team but with no mentor (p<0.001).

Overall, of the students who complete the first assignment, 44.7% completed the course.

Passing the class with honors requires completely nearly all of the assignments. A total of 36% of team leaders earn a statement with honors. Of those in teams and with a mentor, 50% earn a statement with honors. Of the students

on a team but without a mentor, 24% earn a statement with honors. Controlling for demographics and hours planned to work in the class, having a mentor

increases a student’s likelihood of completing virtually all assignments and earning a statement with honors by 76%.

Students on teams with mentors are more than twice as likely (2.25x) to share their statement of completion publicly and with peers compared with students on teams without mentors.

If we look at those who drop the course, we see expected effects in the opposite direction. Overall, 8.5% of students officially drop the course. That number is only half as large for

those on a team (4%). Individuals without a team have a 9.4% rate of officially dropping out. Students on a team but without a mentor drop out at a 4.9% rate whereas those with a

mentor and a team drop out at the lowest rate (3.5%).

The class focuses on assignments and experiential learning rather than watching video lectures. However, although not required and not tested, video lectures are a component of the course that offers supplementary information for the students. If fact, students who are working in teams and actively engaged with the assignments may be expected to watch fewer videos than those who are working individually and more passively learning. Of the students who sign up, 22% watch the first video. Out of the students who watch the first video, 17% watch the final video. For students without a team 17% watch the final video (if they watched the first video). For those with a team, 16% watch the final video. For those with a mentor 18% watch the final video lecture. Of those on a team but without a mentor, only 12% watch the final video. Thus, engagement with a team results in slightly less engagement with videos, however, mentorship seems to encourage engagement with the videos.

Among those who said they would devote more than 5 hours per week to the class at the beginning. Final scores were 6% higher for those in teams. Of those who had made at least 10 posts in the forum, those in teams had an 11% higher rate of passing the course.