Students most often rated collaboration opportunities, content interest, and class belonging as worse online¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2020 · checked against its sources 2026-10-19 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2025: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? 67% rated opportunities to collaborate with other students as worse or much worse online, and 59% rated keeping interested in the course content as worse or much worse. → Means 2020

Evidence¶

Means 2020¶

Means, B., & Neisler, J. (2020). Unmasking Inequality: STEM Course Experience During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Digital Promise Global. https://digitalpromise.dspacedirect.org/items/c978880f-6afe-4778-9df2-dac931a9c471 doi:10.51388/20.500.12265/102

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Survey item comparing six course-experience facets before and after going online; the report lists collaboration (67%) and interest (59%) among aspects "half or more of the students perceived to suffer after moving to remote instruction."

"Opportunities to collaborate with other students on course work (67% thought opportunities were worse or much worse online), • Keeping you interested in the course content (59% thought worse or much worse online)"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Belonging — outcome: instruction changes it
• Motivation — outcome: instruction changes it
• Interest — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Teacher support is among the strongest predictors of school belonging — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• Collaborative situations often fail to be productive in practice, so orchestrating collaboration is not simple — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• Opportunities for peer collaboration largely disappeared when STEM courses went remote, with few instructors sustaining collaborative activities online — related
• Staying motivated was the most pervasive challenge of learning remotely, and students missed instructor feedback, peer collaboration, and hands-on experiences — related
• Online peer assisted learning communities foster informal learning and spontaneous interest-based groups — related
• LLMs act as catalysts for collaboration by aiding idea generation, organization and peer feedback, and by democratizing access to knowledge in large-class settings — related
• Students rated icebreaker/introduction discussions and collaborative work with online communication tools as the most beneficial learner-to-learner strategies — related