Abstract
The ability to work in groups across time and space has become a frequent requirement for the workplace and is increasingly common in higher education, but there is a surprising lack of research on how online groups work. This research applies analytic approaches used in studies of face-to-face classroom “talk” to multiple groups in two online high school courses. We found two activities that demanded group problem-solving styles—one for deciding how to work as a group and a second for responding to the content of the assignment; that successful groups had directive leaders; and that most groups divided the labor, working in parallel rather than collaboratively.
Highlights
The ability to work in groups across time and space has become a frequent requirement for the workplace and is becoming increasingly more common in higher education, but there is a surprising lack of research on how online groups work
--Comments from high school students in an online course There are three types of interaction in an online course: teacher-student, student-content, and studentstudent
This belief was in turn based on constructivist theories that hold that content is best learned in discussion with others. It was built into the standards for K-12 online courses and online teaching, including those developed by the International Association for K-12 Online Learning [1, 2], which refer repeatedly to learning through group collaboration
Summary
“I liked the course altogether, just remove the group activity things, they do not help with learning and take a lot more time than just doing it by yourself.” “No group projects. The goal of this research was to begin to fill this gap by exploring how online groups of high school students in fully online asynchronous cohort-paced (rather than self-paced) courses formulate, develop, and accomplish group projects in order to understand what team problem-solving and group interaction look like in such courses. Is the type and extent of collaboration linked to the success of the final product? If so, how?
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
