When Online Courses Became the Student Union: Technologies for Peer Interaction and Their Association With Improved Outcomes During COVID-19

Abstract

While a variety of learning technologies are presently available to facilitate student-to-student peer interactions and collaborative learning online, recent research suggests that students’ opportunities to interact with their peers were significantly reduced following the abrupt transition to remote instruction due to coronavirus disease. This raises concerns because peer interaction is known to be a key ingredient in effective online learning environments, and during remote instruction, the primary connection between a student and their identity as a member of a college community would have been online courses. In this study, we investigate whether and how collaborative technologies supported peer interaction, and students’ learning, during remote instruction. Specifically, we used results from a multicampus survey of students and instructors, as well as data from our online learning management system, to explore the use of collaborative tools at a large scale and their associations with student outcomes. Findings indicate that instructors, as was typical before the pandemic, generally favored individual learning activities over collaborative activities during campus closure. But in those situations where collaborative activities were present during remote instruction, triangulation analyses indicate that their use was related to improved performance as measured by instructors’ survey responses, by students’ performance in their courses, and by an increased sense of belonging among students.