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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 93 (2013) 322 – 325

3rd World Conference on Learning, Teaching and Educational Leadership (WCLTA-2012)

Improving online collaborative learning: Strategies to mitigate

stress
Insung Jung
International Christian University, 3-10-2 Osawa, Mitaka-shi, Tokyo 181-8585, Japan

Abstract

Online collaboration allows learners to exchange ideas and views beyond time and space constraints. However, there is
evidence that it can present psychological challenges for learners such as stress. It is generally agreed that persistent or
excessive stress leads to negative beliefs and results in poor learning performance. This study examines four stress factors in
English-based online collaboration in Japanese universities, namely low self-efficacy, poor instructional design, lack of
technology skills and collaborative process itself. It also investigates effects of two selected facilitation strategies in reducing
stress and improving engagement in online collaborative learning environments.
©©2013
2012The
Published
Authors. by Elsevier
Published byLtd. Selection
Elsevier andaccess
Ltd. Open peer under
review
CC under the responsibility
BY-NC-ND license. of Prof. Dr. Ferhan Odabaşı
Selection and peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Ferhan Odabaşı
Keywords: Facilitation; Online collaboration; Reflection; Social presence; Stress.

1. Introduction

Online collaboration allows the learners to exchange ideas and views beyond time and space constraints
(Chen, Gonyea, & Kuh, 2008), promotes the co-construction of knowledge (Brindley, Blaschke, & Walti, 2009),
helps learners engage in broader, more complex, and more cognitively challenging discussions (Benbunan-Fich,
Hiltz, & Turoff, 2003), and improves the richness and quality of learning experiences which leads to effective
learning (Bernard, Rubalcava, & St-Pierre, 2000). Active learner–learner interaction in pursuit of collaboratively
solving an assigned task in a technology-mediated environment is the critical component of successful online
collaboration.
However, achieving understanding and agreement in online collaboration can slow down progress or restrict
interactive actions by the learners and tension can arise if all members in a group do not agree to the agenda and
modus operandi. As the learners must interact with the online technology first in order to interact with other
learners, instructor, and/or the content (Hillman, Willis, & Gunawardena, 1994), there may be negative aspects
due to technology constraints or the learners’ lack of technical skills. There is also evidence that online
collaboration can present psychological challenges for learners such as stress. Even though a certain level of
stress can stimulate a learner’s physical and mental functions and enhance learning performance, it is generally
agreed that persistent or excessive stress leads to negative beliefs and results in poor learning performance

1877-0428 © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Selection and peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Ferhan Odabaşı
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.09.197
 Insung Jung / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 93 (2013) 322 – 325 323

(Akgun & Ciarrochi, 2003). Especially in high context societies like Japan where people feel more stressful
without face-to-face communication, text-based, asynchronous online discussions present a great challenge.
This study, based on the study conducted by Jung, Kudo, and Choi (2012), will explore effective facilitation
strategies to reduce stress in an asynchronous online collaborative learning environment. It will select two
facilitation strategies: social presence and self-reflection and examine if these strategies contribute to stress
mitigation and promotion of engagement in online collaboration.

2 . S tress factors and facilitation in asynchronous online collaboration

A study conducted by Jung, Kudo, and Choi (2012) aimed to identify the factors resulting in stress in 226
students from six Japanese universities in asynchronous online collaboration using English as a medium of
discourse. As a result, four factors were found to influence stress in English-based online collaboration: self-
efficacy, instructional design, technology use, and collaborative process. The study also revealed that the
learners’ major, experiences with the Internet and online collaboration and perceived English skills were related
to self-efficacy and/or technology use as factors of stress in online collaboration.
More specifically, it was found that students’ low self-efficacy or lack of confidence in the task and English
use appears to be an important factor causing stress in online collaboration in English. Personal encouragement
provided to individual learners appears to be critical to improve learners’ self-efficacy. For those with low
language self-efficacy, the instructor’s affirmative comments on their postings would encourage learner
participation. Poor instructional design is also a critical factor affecting students’ stress in online collaboration.
Use of inappropriate or lack of any strategies in facilitating and supporting online collaborative activities was the
great concern of the students. Preparing well-structured collaborative tasks, specific objectives and outcome
statements, presenting precise timetable for collaboration, and offering timely rewards to the desired behaviors
are important design strategies. Lack of skills or anxiety in technology use was found to be another stressor for
students who are engaged in online collaboration. The fear for technical errors and difficulties in applying
technical skills appear to be the major concerns. Offering hands-on practice sessions for skills development and
setting up a ‘just-in-time’ online toolkit for both technological problems and those related to collaboration
process can be helpful. Finally, collaborative process itself caused stress in online collaboration. Students
expressed the difficulties in dealing with group decision making and group dynamics and lack of support during
collaborative learning. Assigning clear role(s) of each member in collaborative task and promoting social
interactions can facilitate group activities.
In particular, the study found that high self-efficacy in task and language, by contributing to beliefs in the
learner’s capacity to learn and motivating experiences, is likely to mitigate stress in online collaboration. Further,
the study argued that the teachers should apply appropriate facilitation strategies to help students improve their
self-efficacy and confidence, lessen stress, and encourage greater online discourse.

3 . S ocial presence and reflection

Among various facilitation strategies for successful online collaboration, strategies to provide social presence,
defined as “the degree to which a person is perceived as a ‘real person’ in mediated communication”
(Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997, p. 9), are especially helpful in mitigating stress caused by low self-efficacy and
asynchronous collaboration. Such strategies include offering frequent personal encouragement with positive
feedback, providing task-related, timely verbal support, using humors, asking questions, personalizing examples,
addressing students’ names, or expressing agreements (Aragon, 2003; Jung, Kudo, & Choi, 2011). In a high
context communication culture such as Japan, these strategies would contribute to lowering stress in an online
environment where learners are not in direct contact with each other.
324 Insung Jung / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 93 (2013) 322 – 325

In addition, strategies to promote reflection of the learner’s own collaborative activities are suggested to be
effective in improving the learners’ self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997; Chiya, 2003) and lowering stress caused by
collaboration itself (Jung, Kudo, & Choi, 2011). Reflection is defined as "a generic term for those intellectual and
affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to a new
understanding and appreciation" (Boud, Keogh, & Walker, 1985, p.19). Self-reflection during and after an
activity is found to result in a positive learning experience and deeper understanding as discussed in Mann,
Gordon, and MacLeod (2009). Moreover, self-reflection appears to help learners accurately identify their own
strengths and weaknesses and thus may reduce stress caused by low task self-efficacy.

4. The pilot study

A pilot study was carried out to examine the effects of social presence and self-reflection on stress and
participation in online collaboration which used English as a second language. Participants of the study were 108
undergraduate students taking a blended learning course in education in a private Japanese liberal arts college.
They participated in four week-long online collaboration. A 2 x 2 factorial was conducted to investigate the
effects of social presence (high, low) and self-reflection (present, absent) on stress and engagement in online
collaboration. To increase social presence during online collaboration, the instructor frequently sent out messages
to the social presence group members to offer personal encouragement and positive feedback, provide immediate
task-related comments, offer personalized cases, and share humors, using both the group announcement board
and personal emails. To promote self-reflection, the instructor asked the reflection group members to write a
journal entry at least once a week. Stress was measured by an instrument developed and validated by Jung, Kudo,
and Choi (2012). The instrument consisted of 30 items asking respondents to assign a rating to each of the items
leading to stress in online collaborative learning. Participation was measured by the number of both postings and
viewings.
Factorial design analyses revealed that there were no main effects of self-reflection and social presence on
stress, indicating that neither self-reflection nor social presence contributed to the decrease of overall stress and
the increase of participation during online collaboration. However, the presence of self-reflection yielded the
decrease in stress resulting from low self-efficacy and the increase of participation in online collaborative
activities, indicating the self-reflective journal writing helped learners reduce stress by improving task self-
efficacy and engage more actively in online discussions.

5. Conclusion

Being able to collaborate with others is a critical skill for all human beings. Online collaboration is a model
that can cultivate such skill needed for learners in the 21st century. However, online collaboration can also cause
stress, which can negatively influence the engagement and performance of students (Jung, Kudo, & Choi, 2012).
This study, based on four stress factors (self-efficacy, instructional design, technology use, and collaborative
process) identified in the previous study, explored two facilitation strategies with regard to their effects of
reducing stress and improving participation in online collaboration. Even though there were no main and
interaction effects of self-reflection and social presence, it was found that self-reflection is effective in both
reducing stress caused by low task self-efficacy and improving participation in online interactions. This finding
suggests that online teachers may use self-reflective journal writing as a strategy to develop and implement
stress-reduced online collaborative learning and thus promote participation in collaborative learning process and
enhance effectiveness in such learning environment. As this was a pilot study, further research is needed to
determine the effectiveness of each of the suggested stress-reducing strategies in online collaboration in a wide
range of contexts.
 Insung Jung / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 93 (2013) 322 – 325 325

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the 2012 Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Kakenhi) from the Japan Society for
the Promotion of Society.

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