Awareness and Usage of Collaboration and Communication Technologies in Student Teamwork

In this study, we investigate students’ awareness and usage of collaboration and communication technologies (CCTs). Coordination and communication are two of the key processes for effective teamwork that have been identified in the literature. We find significant differences in awareness of CCTs between various student groups. However, when controlling for awareness, we find no difference in usage. While the proportion of students that are aware of various CCTs is high, the reported usage of CCTs is low. Because of the increased emphasis on teamwork, students need to be taught the technologies they need to use for collaboration and communication in various teamwork activities. Our results suggest that instructors cannot assume that students are familiar with CCTs and will therefore not know how to apply these technologies.