Technology Enhanced Learning: Fostering Cooperative Learning Through the Integration of Online Communication as Part of Teaching and Learning Experience Abstract—This paper discusses ways to foster cooperative learning through the integration of online communication technology. While the education experts believe constructivism produces a more positive learning experience, the educators are still facing problems in getting students to participate due to numerous reasons such as shy personality, language and cultural barriers. This paper will look into the factors that lead to lack of participations among students and how technology can be implemented to overcome these issues. Keywords—cooperative learning, encouraging class participation, education, online discussion I. INTRODUCTION HE pedagogy experts have long since recognized the power of cooperative learning in providing a positive learning experience to the students. It is well understood that the traditional ‘chalk and talk’ approach alone is no longer sufficient in meeting the learning objectives. It is imperative that students are more involved during the teaching and learning process to ensure understanding of what is being taught. Numerous studies have shown that students benefit positively in their academic and social development through cooperative learning [1][2][3][4]. According to Ewens (2003) [5], active class participation can “elicit higher levels of reflective thinking and creative problem solving, including synthesis, application, and evaluation”, which will work well with the high demand for strong interpersonal skills by employers [6] [7] The idea of cooperative learning goes hand in hand with the constructivism theory, where a close link between social interaction and knowledge is fundamental [1][3]. Educators will usually engage the students in a social interaction through topic discussions, where students will be prompted for their opinion and ideas. Other common activities that support students’ participation in discussions are oral presentation and debates. Ramli,R is with the College of Information Technology, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, 43000 Selangor Malaysia (603-8921 2343; fax: 603-8928 7166; e-mail: rohaini@uniten.edu.my) Though the era for ‘authoritarian teachers transmitting pre- defined knowledge to passive students’ may have ended [8] and the ‘student-lead’ learning has made its way to classrooms, cooperative learning may not necessarily be the ultimate answer to positive learning experience for everyone. In conventional classroom setups of twenty or more students, we often see the more talkative and confident students dominating the social interaction, while the reserved and not as confident lots tend to keep their views to themselves. For reasons such as differences in personality, gender, culture and level of knowledge, it is quite a norm to see the more eloquent students chosen to represent their team in any collaborative work such as project presentation or debates, while the quieter ones will settle as the audience. [9][10][11]. Studies have also found this issue to be more prominent among Asian students. According to Zhu et.al (2009) [4], “Western students are more accustomed to student-centered learning environments whereas Asian students prefer a teacher-centred approach”. Influenced by practices and values, issues such as “worry about losing face, formality and deferent to teacher” can result in a more reserved behavior in the classroom. [4] The perceptions of students’ ability are often influenced by their participation in classroom discussions; there is a tendency to judge the students based on how eloquent they are at presenting their ideas to the crowd. Townsend (1999) [12] has stated that “teachers tend to focus on talkative members of class and may assume that quiet students are not as prepared, are not as interested, or possibly even are not as sharp as their outspoken peers”. The American Field Services Intercultural Exchanges [13] in describing American education system claims that teachers in the USA used students’ participation in classroom discussions as “a way to judge student’s understanding of the subject, and assist teachers determines a final grade”. The education system has witnessed more and more students’ participations being included as part of assessments. Information Technology, armed with countless knowledge management tools and technologies to support social networking, has resulted in the use of online discussion in teaching and learning environment. Research and literatures claim that cyber-based discussion promotes better opportunities for everyone to experience cooperative learning. R.Ramli T World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Educational and Pedagogical Sciences Vol:4, No:9, 2010 1996 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 4(9) 2010 scholar.waset.org/1307-6892/10597 International Science Index, Educational and Pedagogical Sciences Vol:4, No:9, 2010 waset.org/Publication/10597