College Student Psycho‐Educational Functioning and Satisfaction with Online Study Groups

As part of required coursework, 112 students in an educational psychology course made asynchronous postings to online study groups. Students permitted their course marks to be used for research purposes and completed a questionnaire that assessed a range of psycho‐educational characteristics as well as personal interpretations of the online study group experience. Students did not perceive the benefits of online study groups equally, but such evaluation was not associated with academic achievement. Results suggest that psycho‐educational functioning relative to satisfaction with online study groups is similar to psycho‐educational functioning relative to satisfaction with learning events generally. In this regard, the difference between student functioning in virtual and real learning environments may not be as apparent as has been suggested.