Cooperative learning goes online: teaching and learning intervention in a digital environment impacts psychosocial outcomes in biology students

Abstract

Identifying evidence-based teaching and learning strategies that can ease teacher challenges and mitigate student concerns in digital settings becomes increasingly important. In this intervention study we compared the effect of digital cooperative learning (CL) and digital lectures on a range of psychosocial outcomes, specifically students’ sense of belonging, science confidence, perceived generic skills, and loneliness, among a Norwegian sample of undergraduate biology students (n = 71). Employing a one-group pretest/posttest quasi-experimental design with a double pretest and follow-up, we found that students’ scores on psychosocial outcomes improved significantly following digital CL compared to digital lectures. Further, the effect sizes suggest that the effect of CL on psychosocial outcomes in digital settings is at least as substantial as in physical settings.