Doing What Comes Naturally? Student Perceptions and Use of Collaborative Technologies

This study investigates how students perceive and use collaborative technologies while also examining the meanings students assign to both collaboration and technology. A qualitative inductive analysis of students’ assignments in a professional communication course demonstrates that students use technology to collaborate for its Accessibility, A/synchronicity, and Collaborativity. Students perceive and use technology within a functional literacy framework wherein technologies are tools providing pragmatic means to complete a shared-document assignment. These results are important for integrating collaborative assignments and collaborative technologies to promote social learning within the classroom