Fay Sudweeks

Virtual teams and their leaders are key players in global organizations. Using teams of workers dispersed temporally and geographically has changed the way people work in groups and redefined the nature of teamwork. Emergent leadership issues in computer-mediated communication are vital today because of the increasing prevalence of the virtual organization, the flattening of organizational structures, and the corresponding interest in managing virtual groups and teams. This chapter examines the communication behaviors of participants in two different case studies to determine if number, length, and content of messages are sufficient criteria to identify emergent leaders in asynchronous and synchronous environments. The methodology used can be embedded in collaborative virtual environments as a technology for identifying potential leaders in organizational and educational environments.

This book follows previous texts: Celia Romm and Fay Sudweeks (eds) (1998), Doing Business Electronically: A Global Perspective of Electronic Commerce, and Fay Sudweeks and Celia Romm (eds) (1999) Doing Business on the Internet: Opportunities and Pitfalls. Not only is this current book about doing something, but it also aims to present insights into how electronic commerce impacts upon the lives of everyday people; in other words, how electronic commerce is received, as well as how it is ‘done’. Accessing the Internet on a regular basis has become an established activity for many people. This activity gives academics and researchers the opportunity to observe and study the nature and effects of this engagement in society. The influence of the Internet in our social fabric also provides the incentive for organizations to implement a web presence.

As educators utilize an increasingly wide range of technologies for facilitating interaction between distant learning parties, there are concerns over the ad hoc use of technology in online course design and activities that are not grounded in sound pedagogical frameworks. This chapter presents a case of a hybrid undergraduate course that is shaped by sociocultural constructivist principles. Survey findings on student experiences of online collaborative learning and group work processes in two constructivist-based learning activities are reported. Results reflecting sociocultural constructivist concepts of scaffolding and appropriation of shared knowledge are presented based on student learning experiences during online synchronous tutorials and collaborative team projects.

As most research on educational computer-mediated communication (CMC) interaction has focused on the asynchronous mode, less is known about the impact of the synchronous CMC mode on online learning processes. This chapter presents a qualitative case study of a distant course exemplifying the innovative instructional application of online synchronous (chat) interaction in virtual tutorials. While chat interaction has primarily been researched for its effectiveness in supporting social-emotional aspects of learning, this chapter reports survey findings on its impact on facilitating participation in collaborative group learning processes and enhancing understanding of course content from a sociocultural constructivist perspective. The results reveal factors that affect both student perception and use of participation opportunities in chat tutorials, and understanding of course content. The findings present implications for the pedagogical design of online synchronous collaborative-constructivist learning activities that enhance understanding of course content through dialogic participation in the learning process.

Analytical frameworks for examining educational computer mediated discourse have been mainly designed for asynchronous discussions; hence the classification schemes are typically more sensitive when applied to longer postings than the shorter more condensed exchanges present in online synchronous discourse. This chapter introduces the exchange structure analysis framework for examining online synchronous interaction at levels of structural organisation and pragmatic intention. The further application of social network analysis as a method and visualisation tool for the coded exchanges are explained and illustrated. Examples are provided from transcript data of moderated collaborative group discussions during virtual tutorials in a case study. With the integration of discourse and social network analytical methods, a richer interpretation is gained on the processes of articulation and negotiation of meaning during online learning conversations.

Virtual teams and their leaders are key players in global organizations. Using teams of workers dispersed temporally and geographically has changed the way people work in groups and redefined the nature of teamwork. Emergent leadership issues in computer-mediated communication are vital today because of the increasing prevalence of the virtual organization, the flattening of organizational structures, and the corresponding interest in managing virtual groups and teams. This chapter examines the communication behaviors of participants in two different case studies to determine if number, length, and content of messages are sufficient criteria to identify emergent leaders in asynchronous and synchronous environments. The methodology used can be embedded in collaborative virtual environments as a technology for identifying potential leaders in organizational and educational environments.

This paper suggests that recent changes in higher education, the demands of the knowledge society and an increased need for students to become autonomous, reflective e-learners increases the need for academics to understand the learning process. In order to understand e-learning, teachers need to understand learning as e-learning is embedded in learning. Without an understanding of what learning encompasses, it can be difficult for many academics to develop into good teachers and to promote good e-learning practice. University teachers need to develop a theory of learning and teaching to apply to e-learning scenarios. This paper outlines a program for promoting conceptual change in academics’ approaches to teaching via an understanding of learning and e-learning. A strategy is developed, initially based on IT units, to help extend the approach to other areas. A dissemination and evaluation strategy is also outlined.

From a sociocultural constructivist perspective of learning, dialogic interactions between students and tutors support meaning negotiation that leads to knowledge construction. In online educational contexts, interaction between learning parties is largely facilitated by CMC technologies. Most research has focused on asynchronous CMC modes which are held to offer learners an ever-present window for ‘speaking’. Less is known about the impact of synchronous CMC modes on participation opportunities in the learning process. Web survey results from two online tutorial groups indicated different perceptions of the availability and use of participation opportunities during chat tutorials. The survey revealed common factors that motivated and inhibited participation, which subsequently presented pedagogical implications for the design of online collaborative learning activities.

This paper considers the issue of enabling effective collaborative learning in networked virtual environments. It is suggested that the increasing use of networked virtual environments for learning and teaching, plus the high level of use of group assessment practices requires us to enable effective learning and ensure that it does take place. The roles and interactions of the individual students combining to form the group can be crucial to the success of collaborative learning. Identifying the possible range and mix of learner attributes and teaching and learning strategies which can help enable effective group learning in networked virtual learning environments is a crucial part of transforming higher education for the knowledge society. Developing previous work, a strategy and methodology for helping enable collaborative learning in networked learning environments is proposed. Factors such as cognitive profiles, collective project visualization and group learning are discussed within the context of providing the research framework. The research methods to be used are presented, the potential outcomes are discussed and conclusions drawn.