MAPPING THE FUTURE: EXPLORING DIMENSIONS, METRICS, AND INDICATORS FOR MEASURING ONLINE COLLABORATION IN EDUCATION
N. Volkmann
This study focuses on the current state of research on the measurement of online collaboration in educational contexts. A systematic literature review (SLR) is used to analyse different methods, instruments and indicators for measuring online collaboration competencies. Six central dimensions of online collaboration are identified: communicative, cognitive, social, organizational, technological and intercultural dimensions. The results show that qualitative and quantitative approaches are often used for measurement, including tools such as the Social Network Analysis (SNA) and the Epistemic Network Analysis Tool (ENA). Nevertheless, there is a lack of standardized, scalable methods for reliable measurement. The paper identifies design principles relevant to the development of precise, multidimensional and adaptive indicators and metrics, and highlights the need to establish collaboration-specific, validated measurement tools to ensure comparable and consistent results across different studies and contexts.
Keywords: Online Collaboration, Competency Measurement, Collaboration Metrics, Collaboration Indicators, Collaborative Learning.