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Student Collaboration
in the Online Classroom
Presented by
A MAGNA PUBLICATION
2 Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom • www.FacultyFocus.com
Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom • www.FacultyFocus.com 3
Table of Contents Introduction: Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom ......................................................................................5 Online Teamwork Quick Reference (Summary) ..........................................................................................................6 Keeping Teamwork Alive, Motivated, and Enthused! ..................................................................................................8 Improving Results and Reducing Frustrations from Team Activities ............................................................................9 How to Promote Collaborative Active Online Learning ..............................................................................................11 Considering Collaboration ........................................................................................................................................12 7 Ways to Improve Student Satisfaction in Online Courses ........................................................................................15 Open-Source Blog Platform Provides Much-Needed Communication Flexibility ........................................................16 Building Community in Online Classes through Group Work ....................................................................................17 Study: Changing Virtual Team Membership Improves Participation ..........................................................................19 Facilitating Student Interaction with Online Discussion Groups ................................................................................20 Active Online Learning Prepares Students for the Workplace, Reflects Changing Learning Style Preferences ............22 17 Tips for Successfully Including Peer Collaboration in an Online Course................................................................23 Comparing Online Peer Interaction Methods ............................................................................................................25 Developing Community Online..................................................................................................................................26 Let Students Choose How to Collaborate ....................................................................................................................27 Online Process-Oriented Group Projects ....................................................................................................................28 How a Former Student/Current Instructor Facilitates Online Student Collaboration ..................................................29 4 Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom • www.FacultyFocus.com
Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom
U sing team assignments in an online course can be an excellent way to create commu-
nity and improve learning. But just as in a face-to-face course, student collaboration
in the online classroom requires careful course design, student preparation, and team
management.
This Online Classroom special report is a compilation of articles that will help you
• recognize when teamwork is an appropriate strategy
• overcome student resistance to working together on group projects
• select collaboration tools
• teach students how to collaborate online
• monitor teams and help resolve conflict, and provide meaningful feedback.
We have compiled this special report to provide you with online collaboration design and
facilitation ideas that work, whether you are a new or seasoned online instructor.
— Rob Kelly
Editor
Online Classroom
Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom • www.FacultyFocus.com 5ONLINE TEAMWORK
Quick Reference
Best Practices compiled from Online Cl@ssroom
elly, Justin, Neil, and Cori have been assigned a
What Is Teamwork?
Teamwork occurs when individ-
ual peers redefine themselves as a
group. (Smith, p.26)
K teamwork project. Kelly tends to take charge and
makes sure everything gets done according to her
high standards. Justin is happy because he was on a
Collaborative learning, collective team with Kelly previously and received a high grade
decision making, teambuilding, and without putting in much effort. Neil has been finishing
group projects are all teamwork ac- his degree one course at a time because of his hectic
tivities that involve taking responsi- work schedule, and Cori is new. Because of family
bility for one’s ideas and having obligations, Cori is only able to work on school projects
sensitivity to the ideas and goals of
in the evenings.
others. (Shank, p. 12)
Teamwork mirrors the real world See any likely problems for this team? As you know, teamwork projects can
where sharing information and be frustrating. The most common reasons for learner frustrations include in-
under-standing the views of others adequate preparation and communication, and the most common reason for
is often critical. (Shank, p. 12) faculty frustration is the need to deal with learner frustrations. (Shank, p. 9)
What are the Benefits of How Do Instructors Successfully Incorporate
Teamwork? (Engle, p.11)
• Learners think through topics Teamwork in Online Teaching and Learning?
more thoroughly • Define Teamwork & Prepare Learners for Team Roles Early
• Teamwork encourages exploration Begin by making teamwork a stated course outcome. Collaboration, partici-
of alternative perspectives and so- pation, and communication expectations should be written into the syllabus.
lutions (Roby, 2005) Then, discuss teamwork, broadly, during the first class. Use
• Teamwork stimulates critical real-life examples of the benefits of teamwork with which learners can iden-
thinking and helps learners clarify tify as a great teamwork motivator. (Sull, p. 8)
ideas through discussion and de- Terry Morris, associate professor at William Rainey Harper College in Pala-
bate tine, Illinois, uses her online “Working in Teams” module (http://terrymor-
• Solutions are typically better than ris.net/teamwork) to help learners understand team roles, how to be good
what one learner could develop team members, and how to resolve conflicts. After learners have used the
working individually — particu- module, she facilitates a discussion about teamwork experiences, including
larly if the project is complex. what made them good or not so good and how to prevent the not-so-good
ones. (Shank, p. 9)
What Other Skills Does Teamwork
Develop? (Engle, p.11) • Establish Criteria for Forming The Teams
• High-Level Thinking skills Some instructors set up teams and others allow learners to form their own
• Negotiating skills teams. If learners are allowed to select their own teams, it’s important to pro-
• Feedback skills vide a way for them to learn enough about each other to make good deci-
• Communication skills sions about who to work with. (Shank, p. 9)
• Project Management skills Instructors who assign learners to teams have many options. Learners may
• Interpersonal skills be randomly assigned or assigned based on their interests, skill levels, partici-
• Intercultural skills
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Online Classroom Editor: Rob Kelly. To subscribe: http://www.magnapubs.com/onlineclassroom/
MAGNA PUBLICATIONS, INC. • 2718 Dryden Drive • Madison, WI 53704 • 800.433.0499 or 608.246.3590
6
Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom • www.FacultyFocus.comSample Teamwork Course pation levels, or their learning styles. (Humbert, p. 17)
Outcome Statement Forming teams based on learning styles is a great way of giving learners
In this course you are required to the opportunity to develop projects that best fit their specific styles. For in-
collaborate on a team project: stance, an instructor could have a team of kinesthetic learners develop a
• You will use the same team for Web page, a team of auditory learners develop and record a jingle, and a
the entire course. group of visual learners write a paper or create a flyer. (Humbert, p. 17)
• Your team will share a Discussion Once grouping criteria have been established, create teams of three to five
Forum. learners. (Roby, p. 23) Introduce the project and then, if possible, give the
• Teamwork grades consist of two team a relatively easy task before they take on more complex team tasks.
elements: (Engle, p. 11) “Before you actually launch a project, it’s important to make sure that every-
1.a group grade for the product it- body knows who’s doing what,” says Jan Engle, coordinator of instruction
self and development at Governors State University. (Engle, p. 11)
2.an individual grade based on
peer reviews of your contribu- • Guide Learners Through Team Communication
tion to the team. Regardless of course platform (on-campus, hybrid, or fully online) allow
• Failure to participate in team proj- team members to choose whether they work face to face, by telephone, or
ects is an automatic one-grade de- online. (Dineen, p. 19) Online interaction options can include e-mail,
duction for the course. (Engle, p. threaded discussion, text-based chat, document sharing, and blogs. Instruc-
11) tors decide whether to limit online options depending on whether they plan
to monitor team interactions and whether team communication will be pri-
Sample Team Agreement vate within the group or open to the rest of the class.
• Project Title & Due Date Once teams are formed and the learners have some understanding of what
• Project Objectives/Purpose is expected, it’s important that they document their understanding. To facili-
• Team Members & Contact Info tate this, teams should construct their first collaborative assignment, a for-
• Member Expertise mal team agreement. (Shank, p. 9) “We identified the roles and
• How to Communicate/How Often responsibilities, the tasks, and how they would be shared. And we did it all
• Project Tasks & Deadlines through discussion threads. Being able to have that record of the process
• Member Roles/Deliverables was very helpful,” says Valerie Taylor, a former online learner. (Taylor, p. 29)
• Conflict Management Procedure
• Improve Participation Through Peer Evaluation & Varied Membership
Sample Peer Evaluation (Shank, Some learners resist teamwork because of past experiences where they
p. 9) ended up doing most of the work while others did nothing and everyone got
Does this team member the same grade. (Engle, p. 11) To prevent inequity, set up a formal mecha-
• accept responsibility for tasks de- nism so team members can provide feedback about and to each other. This
termined by the team? allows team members time to adjust their behaviors while they can still
• respect differences of opinion and make a positive difference. The results of these assessments can also be
backgrounds? used to determine individual grades for team assignments. (Shank, p. 9)
• provide positive feedback of team Another idea is to replicate professional contexts where membership in
member accomplishments? working groups changes frequently as tasks evolve. Alternating team roles
• keep in contact with team mem- (Piezon & Ferree, p. 21) and/or team membership may reduce social loafing
bers for the purpose of maintain- without reducing levels of team communication or learning outcomes. (Di-
ing team cohesion and neen, p. 19)
collaboration?
• meet team deadlines? • Seek Feedback
In addition to a general course evaluation, ask students for feedback on
Working in Teams Tutorial teamwork projects/exercises, particularly those that are newly implemented.
(Shank, p. 9) Use the comments received to adjust, abandon, or confirm the use of spe-
http://terrymorris.net/teamwork cific teamwork projects. (Roby, p. 23)
Online Classroom Editor: Rob Kelly. To subscribe: http://www.magnapubs.com/onlineclassroom/
MAGNA PUBLICATIONS, INC. • 2718 Dryden Drive • Madison, WI 53704 • 800.433.0499 or 608.246.3590
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Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom • www.FacultyFocus.comstanding posting requirements or proce-
Keeping Teamwork Alive, dures; students who complain about
their teamwork grade, about other team
Motivated, and Enthused! members, or your comments regarding
their team postings—the list goes on.
By posting a list of these, and your sug-
gestions for each, at the beginning of
the course you will cut down—tremen-
By Errol Craig Sull dously—on student “teamwork emails”
to you!
T eamwork: it is a specified or non-
specified section of so many online
tant it is and they will not lose it
amongst other aspects of the class. Be
Use teamwork “genius” from stu-
dents to motivate the class. Scour the
courses where students have the oppor- sure to use the active voice and active, team postings regularly and gather
tunity to “speak” with one another in an involved verbs—this “feel” only adds those that extend beyond that one team
asynchronous environment. Yet online to the overall importance you place on but can benefit the entire class—in
instructors often overlook its impor- teamwork and its value. teamwork or any other area of the
tance, and it can be the most difficult Give an example of a good team- course. This can result in two positive
section to “maintain.” To peek in and work session. Students need to know outcomes: first, students will love to
see a teamwork thread of five, six, or so that their teamwork responses cannot have their “genius” team postings used
students sharing ideas, growing their be merely “I agree,” “That’s cool,” for the entire class as great examples;
learning from this participation, and of- “Nice job,” and the like—yes, short re- second, you will be demonstrating the
fering good ideas and responses—this is sponses can certainly be part of team- importance of teamwork—and both are
the stuff that online instructors dream of work, but the ideal teamwork thread great motivators.
seeing in teamwork postings. Yet moti- will have all team members involved, Maintain a list of teamwork
vating students to buy into the team- each offering substantive posts (both “nuggets.” These will be items you
work concept—beyond getting a proactive and reactive) and about 30 harvest from teamwork throughout the
grade—can be a challenge. It is far eas- percent short reactive postings. Copy- course that are so good that they can
ier for the online student to work by ing and posting a previous team’s be used from course to course to
him/herself than in a teamwork envi- thread that offers what you seek in demonstrate great ideas that came from
ronment—and to do this for an entire your class will give them a nice guide— teamwork; to motivate students in
course, well, instructors are wont to say so much more effective than simply teamwork or another portion of the
... good luck! your description! course; and to offer suggestions, in-
Some basic approaches, a bit of time, Become an active part of teamwork. sights, and info for this, that, or an-
and a persistent enthusiasm on the in- You cannot be merely the “teacher ob- other course portion. I have so many
structor’s part can translate into team- server,” but rather you need to dive in that they are broken into categories—
work sessions by students that are as well: respond to some of the posts, including “Great Metaphors and Analo-
outstanding in that they result in the offer suggestions, give kudos when ap- gies”—and they prove very helpful as
core outcome set for teamwork, can be propriate. (Never chastise one student motivational or information “dust”
fun and engaging, and make for a more “in front” of the other team member; sprinkled throughout a course.
enjoyable and meaningful class for rather, do this in a private email.) By Be sure to offer substantive re-
both students and instructor. doing this, the students can see that sources for teams. Beyond your opin-
To accomplish this, try the following you walk the walk, not just talk the ions and observations on postings
techniques: talk—and a combination of your pres- during teamwork, be sure to post web-
Emphasize and explain team- ence and what you offer will truly help sites, anecdotal information, and the
work—early. Many students have motivate them to stay active in team- like that is specific to the teamwork
never taken an online course or have work! thread—not only does this show you
not had one that used teamwork, thus Post a list of teamwork problems— are actively interested in teamwork but
many aspects of it will be foreign. It’s with possible solutions. There will be that you have gone “the extra mile”
very important that you discuss team- a variety of teamwork problems that with solid items that can make a team’s
work, broadly, in your first posting of pop up: team members not contribut- efforts—whether it a team project or a
the class, but also follow this with an- ing, being too bossy, using negative team discussion—better.
other posting that only emphasizes and language, personally attacking other Answer all teamwork questions
explains teamwork—this one-subject team members; technical difficulties
posting lets students know how impor- with postings, late postings, misunder- PAGE 9
8 Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom • www.FacultyFocus.comFROM PAGE 8
within 24 hours. In most online
Improving Results and Reducing
courses, student questions to the in-
structor are usually not posted in a
Frustrations from Team
teamwork thread—but this will not
prevent students from doing so. Often,
Activities
these are spur-of-the-moment, emo-
tion-filled questions—the kind that ne-
cessitate the quickest of responses. Be
on the lookout for them—and let your By Patti Shank, PhD, CPT
students know that all questions, com-
ments, etc. posted or sent to you will
receive a response within 24 hours.
(Don’t single out teamwork: if you do,
you are inviting students to post ques-
S hauna, Juan, Morris, and Kati make
up team #3 in Dr. Davidson’s online
business ethics course. Shauna is a
collaboration, learners can share infor-
mation about themselves such as
course-related special interests, specific
tions to you there!) planner and makes detailed plans for skills (when heterogeneous skills are
Use Reality-Based Education in ex- home, work, and school so she can needed), desired topic (when teams
plaining the benefits of teamwork be- make sure that everything she wants to can choose a topic), collaboration style
yond a grade. Always look for accomplish gets done according to her (such as well-planned and more lais-
opportunities beyond the course to very high standards. Juan is thrilled to sez-faire), and availability (week-
show the benefit of teamwork—these be on Shauna’s team because he day/weekend, time of day, time zone).
can include working together, new worked with her in a previous course Some instructors set up teams and
ideas coming out of group inter- and knows that Shauna’s plans usually others allow learners to form their own
changes, interacting with varied per- result in optimal outcomes (and high teams. If you prefer to allow learners
sonalities, overcoming hurdles, and grades). Morris has been finishing his to select their own groups, it’s impor-
making team decisions. Be sure to degree online because he is unable to tant to provide a way for them to learn
bring real-life examples of these with fit classroom-based courses into his enough about each other to make good
which the students can identify (Real- hectic travel schedule, and Kati is a decisions about who to work with.
ity-Based Education)—this is a great new online learner. Because of her fam-
teamwork motivator, as it points out ily obligations, she is only able to work Understanding teamwork
Teamwork value in everyday life. on school projects in the evenings. Because so many educational activi-
Stay 100 percent enthusiastic about See any likely problems for this team ties reward individual results, lots of
teamwork’s importance. You never from the get-go? If you have been imple- folks are unprepared for teamwork. Be-
want to give the appearance you are a menting collaborative projects, you fore beginning collaborative projects
“rah! rah!” supporter of teamwork be- know that they can be frustrating. Col- then, learners should ideally be pre-
cause it is your job or only for the first laborating at a distance adds additional pared for team roles and responsibili-
part of a course; students quickly pick potential frustrations. The most common ties and resolving typical team
up on this. Teamwork—properly exe- reasons for learner frustrations include problems.
cuted teamwork—is a crucial compo- inadequate preparation and communica- Terry Morris, associate professor at
nent of any class, and you must tion, and the most common reasons for William Rainey Harper College in Pala-
remain its most ardent cheerleader not faculty frustration include the need to tine, Illinois, uses her “Working in
only in words bit in deeds ... from day deal with learner frustrations. Teams” module (http://terrymorris.
one to day last of the class. @ net/teamwork/) to help learners in her
Setting up teams courses understand team roles, how to
In online courses, learners often be a good team member, and how to
don’t know much, if anything, about resolve conflicts. Consider having
one another, so it’s hard to form teams learners use this resource (or build one
based on commonalities. Online in- of your own). After learners have used
structors should consider implement- it, facilitate an online discussion about
ing a process whereby learners are able good collaborative experiences, includ-
to find commonalities or differences ing what made them good or not so
useful for team formation and activi-
ties. Depending on the purpose of the PAGE 10
Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom • www.FacultyFocus.com 9FROM PAGE 9 • How will they handle work that is termined by the team?
sub par, incomplete, or not done? • respect differences of opinion and
good and how to prevent the not-so- backgrounds?
good ones. The instructor ideally should review • provide positive feedback of team
team agreements and provide feedback member accomplishments?
Team agreements on agreements that aren’t specific • keep in contact with team mem-
Once teams are formed and the stu- enough or otherwise unlikely to work bers for the purpose of maintaining
dents have some understanding of well. It’s a good idea to not allow team cohesion and collaboration?
what is expected, it’s really important teams to proceed with other team as- • meet team deadlines?
that they document their understand- signments until a solid and workable
ing, so all team members are on the team agreement that all members of This process empowers team mem-
same page and can refer back to the the team support is in place. bers to have a say in the grade distribu-
agreement as needed. To facilitate this, tion on team assignments. Everyone on
teams should construct their first col- Team assessments the team receiving an identical grade
laborative assignment, a formal team Well-thought-out team agreements despite inadequate contributions by
agreement. can greatly reduce team problems, but some team members is one of the
Joanna C. Dunlap, assistant profes- they may not eliminate them. As a re- biggest complaints from learners about
sor in the School of Education and sult, it’s a good idea to set up a formal team assignments. The team assess-
Human Development, University of mechanism for team members to pro- ment process also lets the instructor
Colorado at Denver and Health Science vide feedback to each other. In addi- know what additional support he or
Center, has each team answer the fol- tion to providing valuable input about she needs to provide to teams and indi-
lowing questions (and I adapted her how each team member is meeting vidual team members.
list to include a few of my own): team commitments, if completed
• Will they will have a leader, and if throughout the course, this allows all Your turn
so, who this will be, and will this learners time to adjust their behaviors Consider adapting the ideas in this
role will be rotated? while it can still make a positive differ- article to your team assignments in
• How will work be distributed? Who ence. order to have greater benefits and fewer
will do what? Who is the desig- Dr. Dunlap uses teamwork assess- frustrations. Also, consider working on
nated backup? ments at various points in her online these ideas collaboratively with other
• What work style do they agree to? courses. The results of these assess- online instructors and instructional de-
• Are there any known problems or ments impact individual grades for signers in your institution so that all
problematic dates or times that team assignment when assessments can benefit from the collaboration.
need to be factored in? show that a team member is not fulfill-
• When and how will they “meet” ing commitments. For example, she Patti Shank, PhD, CPT, is a widely rec-
and communicate with each other? may lower team deliverable grades for ognized instructional designer and in-
How often? anyone who receives less than 50 per- structional technologist, writer, and
• How will iteration and version con- cent of the allowable points from more author who builds and helps others
trol get handled? than one team member. Here are some build good online and blended courses
• Who will post the team deliver- of the questions Dunlap uses in her and facilitated learning. She can be
ables? team assessments. reached through her website,
• How will they provide constructive Does this team member www.learningpeaks.com. @
feedback to each other? • accept responsibility for tasks de-
The Benefits of Active Learning through discussion and debate, b. Negotiating skills
in a Collaborative Environment and c. Feedback skills
According to Jan Engle, collabora- • generates solutions that are typi- d. Communication skills
tive active learning cally better than what one stu- e. Project management skills
• develops higher-level thinking dent can develop working f. Interpersonal skills; skills in
skills—students think through individually—particularly if the dealing with diversity
the topics more thoroughly, project is complex.
• encourages exploration of alterna- Students also learn strategies for
tive perspectives and solutions, This type of learning also helps de- learning by interacting and observing
• stimulates critical thinking and velop the following ancillary skills: team members.
helps students clarify ideas a. Teamwork skills
10 Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom • www.FacultyFocus.comattention to groups in which I’m not
How to Promote Collaborative seeing any activity,” she says. “If I’m
not seeing any activity in the discus-
Active Online Learning sion thread, then I’ll post a message to
that group, saying something such as,
‘It looks like you’re getting off to a
slow start. Are there any problems that
you need help with?’ It’s kind of a gen-
tle nudge so that if there really are
problems, that tends to bring them
J an Engle, coordinator of instruction
development at Governors State Uni-
versity, uses group work in her online
gency plans,” she says. “And if they
have nonparticipating members, I give
groups the ability to fire a member, so
forward.”
Engle encourages her students to
send her private emails to alert her to
courses with an initial emphasis on that they are not continually spending problems; however, she makes it a
process and, as a course progresses, a all of their energy trying to chase point to have the students resolve
growing emphasis on product. someone who is not going to partici- problems in the threaded discussions.
One of the biggest problems with pate anyhow.” “I’m not solving their problems. I’m re-
doing group projects online (and face- If students in her course have not ally helping facilitate their resolution of
to-face) is student resistance. “One of done online group work before, Engle the problem. There’s a tendency as an
the best ways to overcome resistance is introduces the project and then, if pos- instructor to want to solve their prob-
obviously for students to have a posi- sible, gives the students a relatively lems, but that just doesn’t work. You
tive experience. Unfortunately, many of easy team task before they take on just really have to get in, and I might
them come into an online class having more complex team projects. She offers try to encourage. I may do it through a
had a very negative experience with suggestions on using threaded discus- discussion thread. I might suggest that
group work. Almost always, those neg- sion and chat and asks students to ad- we have a team chat where we can get
ative experiences stem from problems dress the following organizational in and talk about the issues and get
where they’ve been on teams where issues: them resolved.”
they ended up doing most of the work
and other people did nothing and • How are you going to divide the Project design
everybody got the same grade,” Engle project so that each team member An important consideration in incor-
says. has a part? porating group work into an online
To prevent this inequity, Engle makes • Who is going to be responsible for course is making sure that it suits the
participation in group work mandatory each part? goals of the course and that it makes
and uses peer evaluation to encourage • How are you going to communicate “authentic use of the content that’s
equal participation. Grades consist of during the project? being presented,” Engle says. “If you
two elements: the group grade of the • How will members submit their use group work simply for the sake of
product itself and a grade for participa- work to the group? incorporating group work, you’re prob-
tion (based on peer review). • What is the deadline for the sub- ably not going to create an engaging
Engle provides a rubric for peer eval- missions of individual pieces? exercise.”
uation. Failure to participate in group • Who is going to be responsible for One of Engle’s most successful group
projects is an automatic one-course putting the pieces together into projects was a scavenger hunt for an
grade deduction. “I do that primarily one paper? introduction to online learning course.
because really bad group experiences • How are you going to handle final Leading up to the scavenger hunt, stu-
and failure to participate in the online proofing? dents learned about search engines,
environment just decimate the sense of • What will you do if somebody does search strategies, Boolean logic, and
community we’ve worked so hard to not do his or her part or does not the relative merits of different search
develop up to that point,” she says. meet deadlines? engines for different purposes.
Preliminary group projects in Engle’s • How are you going to go about an- “In this course, I wanted to make
courses tend to be relatively easy and swering questions that group mem- sure that the students had an opportu-
fun, in order to emphasize group bers might have about the project? nity to do virtual group work, and I
processes. “Before you actually launch also wanted them to be using this con-
a project, it’s important to make sure Engle also monitors all groups by tent knowledge from this unit on find-
early on that everybody knows who’s making herself a member of every dis-
doing what and that they have contin- cussion group. “Early on, I’m paying PAGE 12
Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom • www.FacultyFocus.com 11FROM PAGE 11
ing information on the Internet,” Engle
Considering Collaboration
says.
The scavenger hunt consisted of 50
esoteric trivia questions that students
were not likely to know the answers to.
Each group consisted of five students,
so each student in each group was re-
By Patti Shank, PhD, CPT
sponsible for 10 questions. Each team
captain submitted answers to the ques- The benefits of collaborative
tions through WebCT’s quiz tool. The
grade for the project was based on the
C lose your eyes and see if you can
recollect your high school algebra
class. Do you remember who sat in the
activities
Research studies clearly indicate that
number of correct questions, and Engle seat in front of you? Now, remember a learning benefits can accrue from col-
gave extra credit to the group that fin- college history or economics course. laborative learning activities. They de-
ished first with the most correct an- Where did you sit? scribe ways that social interaction can
swers and to the group that If your recollections are anything like positively influence learning, motiva-
demonstrated the most effective team- mine, you were probably sitting at a tion, and problem solving, and can
work. desk in a classroom or lecture hall, tak- help learners gain needed support and
Teams were required to use threaded ing notes, while the teacher lectured overcome frustration. In online
discussion or chat, which enabled and scribbled words on the blackboard. courses, especially, social interaction
Engle to monitor group interaction and Lecture-driven courses with individual and collaborative activities can help
made communication within the assessments and deliverables such as learners avoid feelings of isolation and
groups less confusing than using email tests and reports were the norm. Work- improve motivation and persistence.
would have done. ing together in groups may have been Changes in the nature of the work-
In an online graduate course in on- acceptable in some situations (e.g., place have put an increased emphasis
line learning, Engle makes it a point to study groups) but not in others (e.g., on teamwork, group cognition, and
create group projects that are common writing papers). All in all, collaboration collective decision making. Much of
to all students but are not in any one didn’t loom large in most teachers’ in- today’s work isn’t predictable or rou-
student’s field of expertise. When she structional strategies toolboxes. tine, as it was 50 years ago. Work in
first tried this approach, some students As a result of your own experiences, this era of knowledge and information
felt that it was a waste of time to de- you may not have considered collabo- increasingly involves
sign solutions that were of no interest rative activities for the courses you • tasks done alongside other tasks
to them. “It was clear to me that they teach. Even if you understand the ben- and under complex conditions and
weren’t understanding that, in order efits of collaborative activities, re- distractions,
for everybody to design and see alter- designing your courses to include them • competing demands and the need
nate design strategies, they had to be may seem daunting. You may also have to continually prioritize and repri-
looking at something that is common questions about how to monitor and oritize, and
to everybody in the group,” Engle says. grade such activities. And you may • complex decisions made with
She explained to them, “If I were sim- have heard complaints from other in- changing and sometimes contradic-
ply to say, ‘Pick something from your structors about the problems they have tory information.
own subject matter and do this proj- faced with collaborative activities. Eas-
ect,’ then the ability for other people to ier to just stay with the same ole, same As a result, the development of criti-
compare solutions doesn’t exist.” ole, right? cal-thinking skills, sharing, and collab-
Because collaboration has critical orative decision making is increasingly
Contact Jan Engle at J-ENGLE@ benefits for learning, I’m going to ex- called for in instructional environ-
govst.edu. @ plain in this and the next few articles, ments. Effective collaboration, like
the rationale for using them, what new most other skills, takes time, practice,
online tools may be valuable, how to and feedback.
design good collaborative activities, Here are some assumptions about
and how to avoid common problems. learning that explain why these bene-
We’ll start with the potential benefits fits occur.
and typical ways to employ collabora-
tive activities. PAGE 13
12 Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom • www.FacultyFocus.comFROM PAGE 12 time and space.
It takes preparation and practice to
1. Learning is social. We learn in design and implement good collabora-
order to participate in the spheres tive activities, and learners need
of influence we are involved in or preparation and practice to get the
wish to be involved in. Joint in- most from them. Hopefully the exam-
quiry and meaning making often ples in the table have provided you
leads to greater understanding for with a few ideas for collaborative activ-
all. ities in your courses. Another way to
2. Learning is active. Learning re- find good ideas is from colleagues who
quires meaningful activity and in- have successfully implemented collab-
Collaborative Active
tegration of new ideas with what is orative activities. Learning Advice
already known. Collaboration can Collaborative activities can model Jan Engle offers the following
help learners better organize and what it means to learn from and with advice for online instructors look-
integrate new information. others, being sensitive to how others ing to incorporate collaborative
3. Ideal learning activities are real view the world, and taking responsibil- active learning in their courses:
or realistic. Collaborative learning ity for more than your own outcomes.
activities can be designed to mirror • Start with simple collaborative
real or realistic activities, leading References projects until you get a feel for
to enhanced engagement and Anderson, T. (2002, October 3). Get- how to structure and facilitate
learning. Collaboration can help ting the mix right again: An updated collaborative exercises.
learners deal with realistic levels of and theoretical rationale for interaction. • Avoid introducing group proj-
complexity, including differences Message posted to ITFORUM mailing ects too early in the course,
of opinion and group decision list, archived at http://it.coe.uga.edu/it- unless they are VERY basic.
making. forum/ paper63/paper63.htm. • Provide specific, clear
4. Ideas of others are beneficial. In Brown, J. S., and Duguid, P. (1989). instructions.
collaborative activities, learners in- Situated cognition and the culture of • Provide tips for success (both
evitably encounter differences. Ne- learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), for virtual communication
gotiating these differences builds 32-42. process and for group work).
important capabilities such as un- Moore, M. G. (1993). Three types of Don’t assume that students
derstanding, tolerating, or resolv- interaction. In K. Harry, M. John, and know how to do group projects.
ing differences. These are crucial D. Keegan (Eds.), Distance education: • Do not abandon students during
twenty-first century life and work New perspectives (pp. 12-24). London: this time … you still need to
skills. Routledge. be available to guide and
At their best, collaborative activities O’Reilly, M., and Newton, D. (2002). encourage groups.
involve taking responsibility for one’s Interaction online: Above and beyond • Allow plenty of time.
ideas and contributions and having requirements of assessment. Australian • If you are going to do a very
sensitivity to the ideas and goals of Journal of Educational Technology, sophisticated group project in
others. In this way, they mirror the re- 18(1), 57-70. the class, try to introduce a
ality of living in a world where sharing Palloff, R. N., and Pratt, K. (2004). simple exercise earlier in the
information and understanding the Collaborating online: Learning together course to allow groups to
views of others is often critical. in community. San Francisco, CA: develop a group process that
Jossey-Bass. will support the more complex
Collaborative activities project that comes later.
The table on the next page lists some Patti Shank, PhD, CPT, is a widely rec-
of the more common types of collabo- ognized instructional designer and in-
rative activities and describes how to structional technologist, writer, and
implement them in online courses. author, who builds and helps others
Collaborative activities can engage build good online and blended courses
learners and help them learn. This is to facilitate learning. She can be
especially important in online courses reached through her website:
because learners need to overcome the www.learningpeaks.com. @
inevitable issues that arise when learn-
ers and instructors are separated by
Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom • www.FacultyFocus.com 13Activity Description Online Course Example
A detailed story of a real or realistic situ- Small groups of learners collaboratively analyze an injury case and identify
Case
ation is introduced, along with a problem measures that may be undertaken to prevent or reduce the damages from
analysis
that learners can analyze and resolve. this type of injury.
The learners in the case analysis group write a joint position paper on the
Collaborative Small groups of learners create a written
most promising measures for preventing and reducing damages from this
writing deliverable.
type of injury.
Learners post questions and call on the
The course help discussion forum in the object-oriented programming
diversity of people resources to get help.
course allows learners to post questions and get help from other learners
Peer help The questions also provide the instructor
and the instructor. As a result, questions are often answered quickly and
with opportunities to assess problems
creatively.
and progress.
Learners maintain a knowledge base to
Knowledge The intro-to-statistics course uses Web forms and a database to maintain a
help them deal with typical problems en-
base list of common issues and problems, and solutions for each of them.
countered in the course content.
An online database has been created by the lead instructor for learners en-
Resource Learners find, share, tag, and maintain a
rolled in the Web development certificate course. Learners in the program
database list of favorite resources.
use, maintain, and add to it as part of their course activities.
Learners exchange draft versions of
Learners in a public health course write a paper on whether public health
course deliverables (papers, Web sites,
workers should advocate for the prevention of accidents (such as mandat-
Peer editing spreadsheets, etc.) and get feedback
ing motorcycle helmets). They share their papers with two other learners
from each other in order to improve
who provide feedback on the quality of their argument and writing.
them.
A business law course includes two online discussion topics in the asyn-
Online Asynchronous dialogue is used for shar- chronous course discussion forums each week. One discussion is initiated
discussions ing and negotiating understanding. by the instructor. Another is initiated by one of the small groups that are
formed at the beginning of the course.
14 Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom • www.FacultyFocus.comPadavano says. “If you find that
7 Ways to Improve Student the class is quiet, you can become
more active. If you find that the
Satisfaction in Online Courses students are very active, you can
step back. You can facilitate based
on the way that the students are
participating in the course.”
• Provide frequent interaction. In-
structors need to be responsive to
students’ needs—Padavano recom-
P reparing students for the online
learning experience and managing
expectations are critical to student sat-
each person, they tend to delegate
roles and responsibilities based on
the strengths of each of their learn-
mends a 24-hour response time to
students’ questions—but interac-
tion is not solely the responsibility
isfaction, says Marie Gould, assistant ing styles,” Gould says. of the instructor. Students also
professor and program manager of • Explain the importance of group need to interact with each other
Business Administration, and Denise work. Because some students may and with the content. “Students
Padavano, associate professor and pro- object to working in groups, stu- need to touch the content every
gram manager, Information Technol- dents need to see how they will day. They want to know how
ogy, both of Peirce College. benefit from group work. “We have they’re doing, and they want to
Students at Peirce College (whether to try to get students to focus on know quickly. They want to know
they are face-to-face or online stu- why we want them to work in the faculty member is there and
dents) are required to take a one-credit teams. We’re not just putting them that he or she cares about the stu-
online course that gives an overview of into teams because we want to dents.”
how the college works and helps de- make them suffer. [Teamwork] is a
velop students’ time management and critical skill that students need to Contact Marie Gould at mgould@
study skills. The course uses eCollege, learn so they are functional when peirce.edu and Denise Padavano at
the same course management system they get out and work. We need to dmpadavano@peirce.edu. @
used for online, hybrid, Web-supported help them get over that fear and
courses at the college. manage expectations,” Padavano
By the time students enroll in their says.
regular courses (which are accelerated • Use team contracts. Major obsta-
seven-week courses), they have a cles to group work are finding the
working knowledge of eCollege and a time for students to work together
good idea of what to expect. But man- and defining each group member’s
aging expectations needs to go beyond roles and responsibilities. Gould
using the technology. has each group develop a team
contract that outlines how and
The following are suggestions by when the group will work together.
Gould and Padavano for improving stu- Interaction options include email,
dent satisfaction: threaded discussion, text-based
chat, document sharing, and audio
• Post the course syllabus on the bridging.
Web. Part of managing expecta- • Use a variety of assessments.
tions is letting students know up Points should be spread evenly
front how the course is organized. across different assessments be-
• Administer a learning-styles in- cause some students might not
ventory. For each of her courses, perform well on tests while others
Gould uses a learning-styles inven- might not write very well.
tory as an icebreaker activity, and • Be flexible. “I might have guide-
because group work is a required lines and even assignments pre-
component of her courses, she has pared, but depending on the
students share their results of the makeup of the class and students’
inventory. “When the students see learning styles and personalities, I
the strengths and weaknesses of might have to adjust some things,”
Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom • www.FacultyFocus.com 15dents who have worked with me for
Open-Source Blog Platform three semesters, and they’ll look back at
their first year’s journal and say, ‘Wow!
Provides Much-Needed I didn’t remember that.’ In that sense I
do like it because it provides opportuni-
Communication Flexibility ties for reflection.”
Use of these blogs also benefits stu-
dents after the class has ended, by pro-
viding them with experience using a tool
that they might be able to adapt to the
W hen Margaret Anderson, a psy-
chology professor at the State
University of New York at Cortland,
For discussions that are relevant be-
yond the students in a particular course,
Anderson may invite colleagues and
courses they teach in the future. “Most
of my students are currently teachers,
and they hear a lot about the use of
began teaching online 12 years ago, she students from similar courses at other technology but don’t necessarily see it in
used an open-source communication institutions to participate. For example, action. So for a lot of them this is model-
tool to facilitate online discussions. She a discussion on how states are imple- ing a tool that they can use in their own
later moved to WebCT when the college menting laws related to No Child Left classes. One of the reasons I prefer this
decided to stop supporting the open- Behind might benefit from the perspec- to something like WebCT or any of the
source product for security reasons. But tives of education students in different proprietary course management systems
WebCT did not provide her with the states or even the perspectives of a is that if a high school or middle school
flexibility she needed, so she found a broader group. (Anderson reserves in- teacher uses this system in my class,
new open-source communication tool— teraction with the general public for the students can replicate it on their own
LiveJournal. end of the term.) because it’s free,” Anderson says.
LiveJournal is a blogging tool that has Anderson has students use LiveJour- When considering a tool such as Live-
helped Anderson to work around sev- nal for group work as well. In these in- Journal or other blogging platforms, An-
eral shortcomings of WebCT. WebCT’s stances, she can easily set up groups by derson recommends that you carefully
discussion feature works well for dis- changing the security settings to restrict consider the needs of the course. “Peda-
cussions among those enrolled in a access to certain students. gogy needs to drive the technology use.
course, but Anderson wanted to open She also conducts one-on-one com- I love to look at new toys and new
certain discussions to former students, munication with her students by creat- things out there, but I want to know
interns’ site supervisors, and colleagues ing groups consisting of herself and what the needs of my course are, and
in similar departments at other institu- each individual student. She uses this what is the best technology to meet
tions (including several overseas). mainly for student journal entries based those needs?”
Anderson chose LiveJournal because on each class session. In the past, she Before using a blogging platform, con-
it is free, easy to use, and allows users would ask students to submit their jour- sider who will have access to each blog
to change security settings to enable nals every two weeks for her to review. before the course begins, to avoid hav-
variable access. She takes full advantage The problem with that method was that ing to change security settings, which
of the ability to change security settings often students would write several jour- can be cumbersome. It also helps to
to provide different access—individual, nal entries just before they were due adopt standard user name conventions
instructor, class group, entire class, se- rather than writing them after each to make it easier to grant access to spe-
lect individuals outside the class, and class session. With LiveJournal, how- cific forums. For example, for students
even the entire online community—to ever, each entry is date stamped. enrolled in her Psychology 501 course,
suit specific communication needs. For interns, Anderson is able to do Anderson has students log in as 501last-
At the beginning of her courses, the “virtual observations,” in which she name to enable her to easily sort users.
class as a whole has access to LiveJour- can have students post artifacts of their One of the disadvantages of using
nal to build a sense of community and work, such as audio or video files. An- open-source tools is that you may not
discuss issues that are pertinent to all derson also opens these intern blogs to have on-campus technical support for
the students. Each of these discussions the student’s site supervisor, which them. However, in the case of LiveJour-
lasts for two weeks. Anderson posts a provides more insight into the stu- nal, there are “excellent” user groups
question in the first week, and students dent’s experiences. and FAQs to help with technical issues
respond directly to the question. In the The archives of these blogs provide that arise, Anderson says.
second week, students continue the dis- students with a record of their learning,
cussion. (The discussion can extend be- which they can use to create electronic Contact Margaret Anderson at Ander-
yond two weeks, but it is not required.) portfolios, Anderson says. “I have stu- sMD@cortland.edu. @
16 Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom • www.FacultyFocus.comclass to encourage community build-
Building Community in Online ing.
Classes through Group Work Group Project 1: Online Discussion
As a future teacher it is important
that you become familiar with key
issues affecting technology in public
schools. Using the discussion guide-
By Roxann Humbert, EdD lines, tips, and rubric, accomplish the
following:
S tudents’ sense of isolation is often
cited as one of the reasons for low
retention rates in online classes. One
assessment and grouping them by sim-
ilar skills for group work is a great way
to lessen the intimidation many stu-
1. Locate the topic that has been
assigned to you.
a. Do schools need more com-
way to combat this is to build group dents feel when their skill level isn’t as puters or more teachers? John,
work into your online class. In doing high as that of their classmates. On the Maria
so, you will most likely also improve other hand, if the group were to de- b. Is technology further widening
retention and increase student learn- velop some sort of technology-rich the gap between rich and
ing. When built properly, group proj- product as part of the group work, e.g., poor? William, Julie
ects will also require students to use a Web page or brochure, grouping stu- c. Is technology further widening
higher-level critical-thinking and prob- dents with a range of technical abilities the gap between males and
lem-solving skills. would make for a more successful females? Jessica, Scott
group project. Students could assign d. Should technology resources
Creating the groups each other tasks, and the students with be focused on basic skills or
Deciding on how to group the stu- the better technical skills could be re- higher-level thinking? Shan-
dents can be very important to the sponsible for developing the final prod- non, Pat
groups’ success. Students may be ran- uct. 2. Decide if you agree or disagree
domly assigned to groups or assigned Grouping students by learning style with the statement.
based upon their interests, their skill is a great way of giving students the 3. Locate two Web sources that
levels, their learning style, or their par- opportunity to develop projects that support your position.
ticipation levels. best fit specific styles. For instance, in 4. Write a brief essay (approximately
There are several methods for ran- a nutrition class the instructor could 200 to 400 words) expressing your
domly creating groups. Many course have a group of kinesthetic learners de- point of view.
management software packages in- velop a Web page on one of the vita- 5. Identify, by quote, the point or
clude an option for randomly assigning mins, have a group of auditory points from the Web resources
students to groups. Another way to di- students develop and record a jingle that support your position and
vide students is to have the instructor about one of the vitamins, and have a elaborate on your point of view.
manually assign students to groups third group of visual learners write a 6. Go to the discussion board and se-
based on the course list. So the first paper or create a flyer for one of the vi- lect the Assignment 2: Discussion
student alphabetically would be as- tamins. Questions topic.
signed to group one, the second person In addition to these methods of creat- 7. Please put your name, the letter of
alphabetically would be assigned to ing groups, instructors can use data your topic, and a brief description
group two, etc. provided by their learning management in the subject line of your mes-
Assigning students to groups based system (LMS) to group students. Most sage, e.g., Julie’s Topic B: Rich or
on a common interest is a great way to LMS packages track student participa- Poor.
have students tackle controversial is- tion. Assigning students who partici- 8. List the hyperlinks for the two
sues. To group students with common pate early and often to the same websites you found.
interests the instructor could provide a section can circumvent the problem of 9. Write out the topic question before
list of topics and have the students sign random groupings that result in one or you write your answer in your
up electronically or through email for two group members doing all the posting. This will help us focus on
the topic they wish to discuss. To en- work. the content and keep things in
courage critical thinking, the instructor order. (This is due by April 21.)
could assign students to take the oppo- Developing group projects 10. Reply to at least three other stu-
site position on the topic. The following are three group proj-
Giving students a technology skills ects used in an educational technology PAGE 18
Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom • www.FacultyFocus.com 17You can also read
