Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 3, 2026

A Methodology for Capturing Joint Visual Attention Using Mobile Eye-Trackers
Published on: January 18, 2020
Online collaborative learning: quantifying how people learn together online
Alan James Salmoni1, Maria L Gonzalez
1,Department of Dermatology, Room 3F24, Glamorgan House, Cardiff University Wales School of Medicine, , Cardiff, UK. salmonia@cardiff.ac.uk
Background:
Curtis and Lawson described a simple but useful method to quantify the interactions of students collaboratively learning online using content analysis to categorise behaviour. We extended Curtis and Lawson's method by allowing responses to interactions to be recorded and analysed. Populations can be partitioned into groups of arbitrary size to address a variety of research questions.
Aims:
This paper describes an attempt to explore the utility of this extended method when applied to real online collaborative learning.
Method:
Using an illustrative example from a postgraduate online medical course for general practitioners, we show how rich the dynamics of online interaction can be and how courses can be analysed to suggest improvements.
Results:
We found that tutors and students differ in how they behave when learning online and according to task type.
Conclusions:
We propose that our method could be useful to measure the effectiveness of collaborative exercises and can be applied wherever research is committed into online group behaviour.
Related Concept Videos
Cognitive Learning
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...
Purposive Learning
Associative Learning
Classical conditioning, also known...
Observational Learning
Quantifying Work
Introduction to Learning
In contrast to learned behaviors, unlearned behaviors such as crying, sexual...
