Online collaborative learning activities: The perspectives of African American female students

• African American female students are willing to work in a racially mixed group.
• African American female students prefer to be a leader in the group.
• Learning-oriented reasons are concerned for online group activities.
• African American female students have timid attitude toward online discussions.

This exploratory study examined the perspectives of African American female students toward online collaborative learning. The participants were nine African American female graduate students in an online multimedia instructional design course in the southeastern United States. A qualitative study was conducted, with data obtained from open-ended interviews, along with relevant posts on chat rooms and online bulletin boards in relation to an assessable collaborative online assignment. Data revealed that the perspectives of African American women toward online collaborative learning could be categorized into four themes, including (a) preference to work in a racially mixed group, (b) preference to be a leader in the group, (c) learning-oriented reasons (rather than social or peer oriented reasons) for online collaborative learning, and (d) timid attitude toward online discussions.