Effect of different grouping arrangements on students' achievement and experience in collaborative learning environment

The study aims to investigate the effect of homogenous and heterogeneous grouping on students' achievement and experiences of learning in a collaborative environment. A collaborative learning environment has been used as a pedagogical tool for a long time now. However, there is no clarity on which grouping strategy to use. In this paper, we study the impact of grouping on students' performances. We aim to examine how different grouping arrangements, leading to different learning environments, affect students' academic achievement. Also, in most cases homogeneity or heterogeneity is decided on the basis of students' ability. For group learning, students were grouped into two different settings on the basis of their learning perspectives derived from class notes and their personality types. In the present study, we used a novel algorithm based on k modes clustering. Grouping indeed improved students' performance, particularly, the heterogeneous groups performed better than the homogenous groups. Students' experience with learning in the two different environments indicates that they were more satisfied with homogeneous group settings.