Distansstudenters samarbetssätt : En fallstudie i hur distansstudenter samarbetar i praktiken

Distance education, in the sense that students are geographically separated from their educational institution, is a fast growing form of higher education. Not only does the number of distance students increase every year, they also constitute an increasingly higher percentage of the total student population. We introduce relevant previous research regarding the evolution of distance education, the ways students can work together, and what the perception is towards different information- and communication tools. Our empirical approach is based on semi-structured interviews, involving six students who are at different stages in their educations or courses. We report our empirical results by presenting quotations which are then analyzed and compared to the previously introduced theory. Our research question is: “how do distance students work together and why do they use specific tools in these collaborations?” Our findings are that distance stu-dents prefer to work individually, reasoning that they are more efficient working on their own, compared to when they have to collaborate with other students. When instructed to collaborate, students are prone to divide the assignment in a way that allows them to mimic an individual workflow. The results also indicate that, in general, students prefer to use the tools that their University provides.Validerat; 20120618 (anonymous