Awareness and Usage of Collaboration and Communication 
Technologies in Student Teamwork

INTRODUCTION Effective coordination, collaboration, and communication are important in effective teamwork activities (Mickan & Rodger, 2000). The advancement in technology has facilitated and impacted collaboration and communication amongst members of the team who are (1) in one location, i.e., co-located, and can meet face-to-face (Siegel, Dubrovsky, Kiesler & McGuire, 1986; Dennis, George, Jessup, Nunamaker & Vogel, 1988; Hollingshead & McGrath, 1995; Bordia, 1997; Thompson & Coovert 2003; Laru & Jarvela, 2008) or (2) geographically dispersed, i.e., virtual team, and cannot meet face-to-face option (Warkentin et al., 1997; Townsend, DeMarie, & Hendrickson, 1998; Watson-Fritz, Narasimhan & Rhee, 1998; Furst, Blackburn & Rosen, 1999; McCreary, 2009). The purpose of this study is to determine the awareness and usage of Collaboration and Communication Technologies (CCTs) for teamwork among students. In the organizational setting, it has become increasingly important for individuals to be skilled at working as part of a team in addition to possessing individual strengths (e.g., Morehead, Steele, Alexander, Stephen & Duffin, 1997; Stewart & Barrick, 2000). Business leaders are looking for effective project managers and team players (Goltz, Hietapelto, Reinsch & Tyrell, 2008). Therefore, employers and recruiters are looking for graduates possessing teamwork skills, including collaboration and communication skills. To address this need, the programs model curricula, such as IS 2010 Model Curriculum (Topi, Valacich, Wright, Kaiser, Nunamaker, Sipior & de Vreede, 2010), and accreditation bodies, such as the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB--International) and the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), are all supporting and requiring teamwork to be an integral part of the curriculum. In addition to preparing students to be effective team leaders and team members for their future career, there are educational reasons to incorporate group work throughout the curriculum. Prior research has shown that participation and involvement of students in the classroom has a direct impact on learning (Chen & Looi, 2011), and that learning as a group is potentially more effective than individual learning (Mejias, 2006). Because the number of online courses and degrees offered at higher education institutions has increased significantly in recent years (Allen & Seaman, 2011) more students are encouraged and required to work in virtual teams. Effective usage of CCTs can facilitate teamwork activities whether the team is co-located or virtual and therefore can be an effective tool in achieving learning goals (Tutty & Klein, 2008). The online students who cannot meet face-to-face can form virtual teams for teamwork activities. However, offline students can also take advantage of virtual team for some teamwork activities while still meeting face-to-face the same way that online students forming virtual team can still meet face-to-face for some teamwork activities. Before students can use CCTs to enhance collaboration and communication among the team, they need to be aware of these technologies. Our results indicate that there is a difference in awareness of CCTs between undergraduate and graduate students, online and offline students, younger and older students, and male and female students. However, when controlling for this difference in awareness, we find no differences in usage of these technologies in teamwork. Overall, students indicate great awareness of CCTs but the usage of the various CCTs is relatively low. This suggests that students lack applied technological knowledge and knowledge on how to effectively use technology in teamwork activities. Hence, our results suggest an important role for instructors that assign group projects. Instructors cannot assume that students are familiar with CCTs and will therefore know how to apply these technologies in group work. …