Using chat to support collaborative learning: quality assurance strategies to promote success

We explore the challenges that the design and realization of Web-based collaborative learning activities present for authors, tutors and learners, and suggest how the quality of such activities can be assured. The discussion is based on a case study in Business English: adult learners with a nonacademic background worked in 19 small groups consisting of three participants each to complete a collaborative learning task designed by an experienced instructor using the chat tool of a commercial learning platform. Researchers analysed learner and tutor behaviour focusing on the intended learning activities and doing a content analysis of the chat transcripts in order to evaluate the success of the collaborative learning episode. Results demonstrated a significant discrepancy between the instructor's intentions concerning the behaviour of the learners and their actual behaviour. This may be attributed to two factors: firstly, the chat tool did not effectively support the activity itself; secondly, neither tutor nor learners had received adequate training regarding their roles and appropriate behaviour during the activity. Based on the evaluation results, we suggest improvements to the chat tool, the authoring process, and the training of author, tutor and learners as well as a six-step process for quality assurance of cooperative e-learning units.