While many authors specializing in online education stress the use of group work as an essential tool for the online instructor, students almost unanimously complain. As students resist it, they often have good reasons. While it can be a means to insure good learning outcomes, online group work should not be universally recommended. For the instructor using it effectively is not easy. However, with a good design and effective facilitation, it can be successful. To use it successfully, it must be necessary for the content of the class, provide work areas for the groups, and be monitored by the instructor. Well designed and facilitated group work may help to reduce student aversion to this essential learning tool.
TopIntroduction
While many authors specializing in online education stress the use of group work as an essential tool for the online instructor, students almost unanimously complain. As students resist it, they often have good reasons. While it can be a means to insure good learning outcomes, online group work should not be universally recommended. For the instructor using it effectively is not easy. However, with a good design and effective facilitation, it can be successful. To use it successfully, it must be necessary for the content of the class, provide work areas for the groups, and be monitored by the instructor. Well designed and facilitated group work may help to reduce student aversion to this essential learning tool.
Anecdotal evidence, empirical research, and meta studies all show that online group work can lead to successful learning outcomes (Johnson, Johnson, & Stanne, 2000; Joo, 2017). I will present research from many sources as well as give you some best practice suggestions to assist you in both the design and facilitation of classes using group work.
In the early days of online learning, many authors expressed concern about the need for community built on group work or collaborative learning in the online class (Conrad & Donaldson, 2004; Haythornthwaite, Kazmer, Robins, & Shoemaker, 2004; Palloff & Pratt, 2007; Rovai, 2002; Rovai et al., 2008; Snyder, 2009). However, an early empirical research study of over one-thousand subjects found that the students were not interested in the community as much as they were in the interaction with the instructor and the content (Shea, 2006). Community came last in the list of interactions. Additionally, many of these authors also pointed out the high attrition rate among early online students and attributed this to a lack community (Conrad & Donaldson, 2004; Haythornthwaite, Kazmer, Robins, & Shoemaker, 2004; Palloff & Pratt, 1999; Rovai, 2002; Rovai et al., 2008; Snyder, 2009). The rationale being that if the students were able to form a community, they would be able to identify with the other students in the class and thus have better learning outcomes. Two situations, attrition and isolation, while common in the early days of online education, are rarely issues in the current twenty-first century teaching environment. Students today often report having close friends online they have never physically met as well as treating online classes much the same way they do face-to-face.