Students generally view collaborative learning (CoL) as something that is manageable and productive when it is carried out in the form of face-to-face interaction rather than in a virtual environment. Studies show that students show 'moderate enthusiasm for working in groups and the participants disclose both positive and negative experiences of this of working' (Cantwell & Andrews, 2002).
The main focus of this paper is to address students' point of view of the use of ICT for CoL and to understand why they feel this way. One of the reasons for this perspective is because of the way a learning task is designed – when no opportunities are given to students to work through activities that involve ongoing efforts in meaning negotiation and the establishment of shared understanding among them. The discourse that is critical for CoL is often short-changed in the classroom (face-to-face) because of time-tabled time allocated for lesson delivery. Besides these students also generally see each lesson/session as a complete unit rather than an extension of learning that goes beyond the lesson proper.
Another reason for students’ skewed view of ICT supported CoL is because of the way the affordances of ICT is harnessed. Technology selected should support pedagogy, delivery of content and development of knowledge at the same time.
The lack of awareness of the curriculum designers of what is required to encourage 'practices of meaning-making in the context of a joint activity' and 'the ways in which these practices are mediated through designed artefacts' harnessing the affordance of technology (Koschmann, 2002) will promote active learning online, and in the process will promote the use of ICT for collaborative learning and also make learning useful.
The use of Google Spreadsheet, Google Docs, Google Slides and Wix were introduced to promote active collaboration beyond the classroom over period of more than 14 weeks of project work in the Sec 1 classroom. This helped to promote joint activities within each group that required students to collect data, share and analyse followed by a research on the health indicator they selected as a group. Students completed an oral presentation, a report and a digital poster collaboratively.
Teachers as facilitators provided the guidance, scaffolds and challenged the students to stretch their potential. On the other hand students were able to learn at their own pace, challenge themselves to do their best and were self-motivated to complete their work on time.
