Abstract
According to Tiffin and Rajasingham (1995), classroom teaching uses techniques that have developed over a period of four thousand years. A new teaching paradigm, such as online teaching and learning, cannot continue to be evaluated in terms of the old paradigm from which it shifts. This study investigated the effectiveness of one criterion, positive role interdependence, within small groups on achievement, learner satisfaction with distance, web-based discussions, and delayed assessment of knowledge and skills. It is best described as investigation of the effects of positive role interdependence within small, online discussion groups comprised of participants enrolled in graduate-level courses with face-to-face and World Wide Web delivery using textbooks and/or course notes.
This study examined the effects of positive role interdependence (PRI) between small groups on achievement, learner satisfaction with distance, web-based discussions, and delayed assessment of knowledge and skills. Its quasi-experimental study used a multi-level treatment design in a naturalistic setting. The 83 participants, (4 males and 79 females) were graduate students enrolled in an assessment course at a medium sized southeastern university. Twenty-eight participants were assigned to the positive role interdependence treatment group while 55 participants were assigned to the absence of positive role interdependence treatment group. Systematic sampling was used to further assign participants to even smaller groups of four or five learners to complete web-based discussion board activities. Participants belonging to the positive role interdependence treatment group received a positive interdependence treatment through assignment to roles.
No differences between groups were found in academic achievement at the end of the instructional intervention, however significant differences, p< .05, were found on a delayed posttest, in favor of the PRI treatment group. There was also a significant difference on learner satisfaction in favor of the PRI treatment group.
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