Collaboration and e-collaboration: A study of factors that influence perceived students' group performance

Understanding student's perception of collaboration and how collaboration is supported by ICT is important for its efficient use in the classroom. This article aims to investigate how students perceive collaboration and how they use new technologies in collaborative group work. Furthermore, it tries to measure the impact of technology on students' satisfaction with collaboration outcomes. In particular, the study aims to address the following research questions: Which demographic information (e.g. gender and place of origin) is significant for collaboration and e-collaboration? and Which are the perceived factors that influence the students' group performance? The findings of this study emphasize that there are gender and cultural differences with respect to the perception of e-collaboration. Furthermore, the article summarizes in a model the most significant factors influencing group performance.