A model to evaluate the effectiveness of collaborative online learning teams: Self-disclosure and social exchange theory perspective

Abstract

Collaborative online learning teams (COLTs) are teams that comprise online learning students who study in groups. Accompanying with the popularity of online learning in campus and industry, learning in groups has been attracting people’s attentions. However, there is little research constructing intact frameworks to evaluate the effectiveness of COLTs. This study built a framework by incorporating six constructs: self-disclosure, social exchange, trust, cohesion, performance and satisfaction, and validated it by analyzing data from a five-week experiment. The results showed that social exchange had a significant impact on trust but self-disclosure did not. Trust was significantly related to cohesion and cohesion was significantly related to performance and satisfaction. This study suggested instructors to incorporate the amount of students’ posts into parts of evaluation to facilitate self-disclosure, and to stop “social loafing” behaviors to encourage social exchange activities.