A Study of the Communication Behaviors and Members' Roles in the Interaction Process of a Project-based Learning Group

The infusion of information and communication technology into instruction has gained the foothold within many classrooms in higher education by its advantages to enable the variety and accessibility of school teaching and learning. However, to engage students with the technology enhanced learning experiences calls for attentions on more the processes than the mere outcome of technology use. This study examines the common phenomenon in college campus where network technology, group activities and project works are available with the intention to explore how student performance of teamwork and learning is affected by the micro factors of group compositions, members’ roles and their communication behaviors. Results show that the group performed most procedure-, task-, and social-communication behaviors during the execution stage than that of preparation and completion stages. Additionally, members’ roles performed and interfered within these stages positively affected the project performance to different extent. [Article content in Chinese; Extended abstract in English]