Impact of Using Online Collaborative Learning Platform on Class Engagement of Technical College Students in the Online Shop Artwork Training Course: a Case Study

The online collaborative learning platform can increase learners’ class engagement at different levels of education. However, the literature review of this study found that limited studies investigated the impact of using this kind of platform on class engagement among technical college students though they are future skilled talents. Therefore, based on Gunuc and Kuzus's theoretical framework of student engagement, including cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement, the first phase of this research project employed quantitative investigation on 71 Chinese technical college students. 36 of them engaged in the intervention learning with online collaborative platforms while the rest of them learned in a traditional way. This paper reported the second and qualitative phase of the entire mixed methods research project, which aimed to have a deeper investigation into how the use of the online collaborative learning platform might affect technical college students’ class engagement. Six students and one teacher from the experimental group in the previous phase of research were purposively selected for semi-structured individual interviews, and the data were analyzed by thematic analysis via NVivo. This study found that the online collaborative learning platform positively influenced technical college students’ engagement in three key ways: (1) affording learners more opportunities for interaction; (2) fostering their sense of enjoyment and motivation for excellence in teamwork; and (3) encouraging them to understand the value of learning and making efforts in various situations.