When education is partly online (blended learning), does students’ trust influence their performance

This research evaluates if trust influences performance, in education that uses blended learning (semi-virtual collaboration). We carried out interviews and three surveys, at three different stages of the collaboration. Trust and performance are positively correlated at all three stages. This indicates that the level of trust the individual student has, impacts their performance. To improve the level of trust, we should encourage the students to proactively build trust. For example, we can have more social activities and courses for the students to become more familiar with each other and have better relationships. We should not only focus on the task itself, we should also develop the culture of collaboration the teams have. Reference: Cheng X., Fu S., Han Y. & Zarifis A. (2017) ‘Investigating the individual trust and school performance in semi-virtual collaboration groups’, Information Technology and People, vol.30, no.3, pp.691-707. Available from: https://www.doi.org/10.1108/ITP-01-2016-0024