A Mixed Methods Study Of The Implementation Of Collaborative Technology Tools For Enhancing Collaboration And Student Engagement In Online Learning: Faculty Experiences And Student Perspectives

Abstract

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. All praise and thanks are due to Allah, the Lord of the Universe for the blessing providing me the strength and patience to complete this dissertation. I pray that I utilize the knowledge Allah has provided me through this journey for good and to benefit others earnestly. First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my dissertation committee chairperson, Dr. Ryan Brown, for the invaluable support, guidance, and encouragement throughout my journey. I would also like to acknowledge my dissertation committee members, Dr. Steve Mertens, Dr. Lydia Kyei-Blankson, and Dr. Jay Percell for their insightful comments and encouragemen. Their guidance, advice, and support have largely contributed to the successful completion of this dissertation. I would like to express my great gratitude to my family for all of the spiritual support throughout this process. To my parents, thank you for your prayers, inspiration, and endless encouragement. Thank you for believing in me and I hope that I have made you proud. To my sisters and brothers, thank you for all the love, encouragement, and endless support. To my beloved husband, words cannot express my appreciation and gratitude to you for being always by my side to provide love and support. Without your care, patience, sacrifices, and endless support, I would not be where I am today. To my brilliant children, thank you for being my inspiration to achieve greatness and success. Thank you for all the love, joy, and happiness that you gave me. Thank you for coming into my life, you are my greatest accomplishment.

OLJ March 2023 27(1)

“…Means et al (2009) conducted a meta-analysis and review on the effectiveness of online learning and found larger positive effect sizes for studies that included online learner collaboration as opposed to individual work. More recently, research has found that collaborative learning activities in the online environment increase students' motivation (Ozkara & Cakir, 2020), engagement (Alahmari, 2019), and achievement (Yunus et al, 2021). Overall, well designed and implemented online learner collaboration has been found to be beneficial for online learners in achieving learning outcomes and enhancing engagement.…”

Knowledge development, technology and quality of experience in collaborative learning: a perspective from Saudi Arabia universities

“…Ideally, Collaborative Technology is expected to support a collaborative learning process along the different phases (Alahmari 2019). Technology plays a critical role in modern education (Peled et al 2022).…”

“…Technology plays a critical role in modern education (Peled et al 2022). The proposed conceptual model assumes collaborative technology mainly aimed to content sharing, task development (Recker et al 2013), communication (including Social Media (Al-Rahmi et al 2015) and data acquisition (Alahmari 2019;Habes et al 2018). Those aspects have been proved to be key factors according to several studies.…”

Synchronous collaborative writing instruction in a university EFL context: Challenges and solutions

“…This demonstrates a major disadvantage of synchronous learning that instructors have to stick to an inflexible class schedule. Alahmari (2019) and Dahmash (2021) advise that, to facilitate students, all the class meetings and presentations be recorded so that students can download the recordings and study afterwards. Furthermore, Xi and Li (2020) found that while synchronous learning stimulates active interaction, students can be distracted by classmates.…”