Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Hernandez, Sarah

Area of Concentration

Sociology

Abstract

In this sociological study, I aim to address how digital technologies function to facilitate collaboration among students and between students and professors. I explore this topic through an analysis of the way students used platforms to collaborate in the Fall 2020 courses offered at New College of Florida. The study uses a multi-method approach that includes a survey of New College faculty, semi-structured interviews with three professors and six students (two per course), and content analysis of the course syllabus for each interviewed professor’s course. I found that technological familiarity affected the extent of students’ collaboration, and the type of platform (and teaching tools) used in a course aids how people collaborate in remote and hyflex courses. Courses that require collaboration, leads to more student-student communication. Many platforms offer distinct functions for students, and a platform's usability affects how students collaborate when working remotely. More importantly, students must adapt to changing "hidden" requirements: to develop the skills necessary to communicate effectively using various technologies and the agency to work remotely.

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