How does online teamwork change student communication patterns in programming courses?

Abstract: Online teaching has become a new reality due to the COVID-19 pandemic raising a lot of questions about its learning outcomes. Recent studies have shown that peer communication positively affects learning outcomes of online teaching. However, it is not clear how collaborative programming tasks change peer communication patterns in the learning process. In this study, we compare communication patterns in MOOCs where peer communication is limited with those of a blended course in which students are involved in online peer instruction. We used a mixed-method approach comprising automated text analysis and community extraction with further qualitative analysis. The results show that students prefer to seek help in programming from peers and not the teacher. Team assignment helped to support this habit. Students communicated more positively and intensively with each other, while only team leaders communicated with the instructor reducing teacher overload. This shift could explain how peer communication improves learning outcomes, as has been shown in previous studies on MOOCs.