Investigation of engagement and participation of students completing performance tasks individually and cooperatively in online environments

The purpose of this research is to examine the difference between engagement and participation of students who perform performance tasks individually and cooperatively in online environments. Mixed method was used in the research. The data on the quantitative dimension of the research were provided by the student activity access numbers and durations in the system records of the online platform used, and the scores obtained from the Student Engagement Scale pre- and post-tests. The data on the qualitative dimension of the research were obtained from the video and focus group interview recordings of the live lesson platform. To examine the change in the participation of students who perform individual and cooperative performance tasks in online environments, the activity access data obtained from the learning management system platform was subjected to the Mann Whitney U test. In addition, the duration of the live lesson participation of the students is shown descriptively. In terms of participation in the pre-application period, no statistically significant difference was found between those working cooperatively and individually (p=0.141 >0.05). In terms of participation in the implementation process, a statistically significant difference was found in favor of students who works cooperatively (p=0.01 <0.05). Based on the research findings, it was concluded that the use of cooperative performance tasks would be beneficial to increase online student participation. Student Engagement Scale pre- and post-test points were subjected to the Man Whitney U test to examine the changes in the engagement and sub-factors of the students who perform individual and cooperative performance tasks in online environments. According to the pre-test and post-test engagement points, there is a statistically significant difference in favor of students working cooperatively (pre-test: p=0.029 <0.05, post-test: p=0.012 <0.05). According to the behavioral engagement pre-test results, there was no statistically significant difference between students working individual and cooperative (p=0.018 <0.05), while there was a difference in favor of students working cooperatively according to post-test results (p=0.006 <0.05). According to the pre-test results of affective engagement, while there is no statistically significant difference between students working cooperatively and individually (p=0.08 >0.05), according to post-test results, there is a significant difference in favor of students working cooperatively (p=0.012). <0.05). According to the results of the cognitive engagement sub-factor pre- and post-test, there is no statistically significant difference between students working cooperatively and individually (pre-test: p=0.271 >0.05, post-test: p=0.263 >0.05). As a result, it is thought that the fulfillment of performance tasks cooperatively is appropriate to use to increase the behavioral and affective engagement of online students. While investigating the relationship between the participation and engagement of students performing performance tasks in online environments, the Spearman ρ value was calculated with live lesson participation rates and engagement post-test points. A statistically significant positive correlation was found for students working cooperatively (p=0.019 <0.05). No statistically significant relationship was found for students working individually (p=0.845 >0.05). In the light of these findings, online students may be asked to perform performance tasks cooperatively to increase their engagement and participation in the course. A focus group interview was conducted to determine the opinions of the students working cooperatively about their engagement to the online course. Theme analysis was applied to the interview records. It has been determined that students find it effective but difficult to work cooperatively in online teaching.