Cooperative learning incorporating computer-mediated communication: participation, perceptions, and learning outcomes in a deaf education classroom

Many researchers have documented deaf students\u27 struggles with reading, writing, and communication in the classroom over the last twenty years Fang & Beil, 2005; Antia, et al., 2005; Mallory & Long, 2002; Mallory et al., 2006, Johnson & Johnson, 1986; Karchmer & Mitchell, 2003). With the advent of email and text pagers, students today need to be exposed to the communication technologies of the future (Marschark et al., 2002; Bruce & Levin, 2003); especially deaf students, who will more typically rely on technology in the workplace for communication than hearing people (Wood, 2002). This exploratory research study with deaf undergraduate students examined whether computer-mediated communication (CMC) facilitated equitable participation and learning outcomes in a classroom activity. The study also examined the students\u27 perceptions of CMC as a valid instructional approach and whether they felt they could communicate easily via CMC. Results showed that participation was significantly more balanced within the CMC group pairs than within the comparison group pairs. It was also found that learning outcomes were significantly greater for the CMC group than the comparison group. In addition, students using CMC agreed that they could communicate easily and that CMC was an enjoyable method of communication in the classroom