Online Collaborative Project-Based Learning in Higher Education: Students’ Motivation, Collaborative Learning, and Perceived Outcomes

Project-based learning is a student-centered problem-driven approach that can motivate students in higher education to learn and collaborate, and strengthen their learning outcomes. This study examined how students’ motivation and collaborative learning were related to their self-reported outcomes of online collaborative project-based learning. An 8-week online project-based mental health course at a Chinese university was implemented. In addition to lectures and workshops during the course, students collaboratively created a final product (i.e., a film analysis report) with group members using WeChat as the communication tool. Survey data were collected from 81 students from 25 groups. Results from a partial least squares analysis showed that students’ motivation was positively related to students’ perceived outcomes. With respect to students’ collaborative learning, four strategies were distinguished. The more students considered others’ opinions and challenged others, the more positively they evaluated the outcomes of their collaboration. For the other two strategies, no significant relationships with perceived outcomes were found. Practical implications for teachers and suggestions for further research are provided.