Exploring Collaboration Readiness with Multimodal Learning Analytics: The Value of Generative Preparation Activities

Productive and meaningful interactions among peers are considered as a key condition of effective collaborative learning. Although previous literature illustrated that the preparation for collaborative learning can foster the process of collaborative learning, most research focused on one specific type of preparation activity’s (e.g., viewing prepared handouts) impact on collaboration outcomes rather than looking at a diverse set of preparation activities’ impact on the collaboration process. This study applied multimodal learning analytics techniques in a real-world collaborative learning context to explore the effects of generative preparation activities (e.g., online debate contributions) and non-generative preparation activities (e.g., viewing readings, watching pre-recorded lectures, and other learning materials) on the interactions among learners during the collaborative learning process. The results showed that generative preparation activities have more significant impact on fostering group interactions during the collaborative learning process. This highlights the value of engaging students with generative preparation activities before their collaborative learning. We conclude the paper with a discussion on the implications of these results for teaching practice in real-world collaborative learning.