Dear All,

I must confess that coming up with ways to migrate f2f group work online is a bit daunting. As an undergraduate, I hated group work because I found that one or two people generally took over the project and not everyone’s voice came through. As an instructor, I have found successful group can transform the classroom into a real community. I like to do projects in my classes, and enjoy watching my students collaborate. One question I have is to what extent can the writing itself be collaborative without one student taking over?  In my classes, I often have students work in groups to write specific tasks, like to summarize an article. I watch them deliberate about what should go into the summary and find this conversation helps them develop their thoughts. I can see this kind of activity migrating effectively onto a whiteboard or message board.  In one classroom experiment, I organized the groups based on ability. I had a couple of really advanced students who needed to be pushed and I was afraid that if I dispersed them, they would end up dominating each group. This approach worked because they pushed each other. The other groups, I arranged based on skill level and strengths, keeping the groups stacked. While each member had different strengths, no one really dominated the group.  It seems like for a class of strong readers, group work will be successful no matter what. My concern is more for the weaker readers and writers who don’t necessarily know how to read tone. How do we make them less self-conscious online? (I feel it myself as I type this because I am more comfortable writing longhand. I find that my writing sounds stilted when I type on the computer.)  I have done group peer review conferences, and that has worked well. I like the idea of trying to set something like that up online. Janette’s video made me think about this in talking about synchronous meetings (something I did eons ago as a graduate student).  So, my questions are:

1) How does one create the trust and working rapport necessary for successful collaboration?

2) To what extent can the writing itself be collaborative without one student taking over?

3) How do we push our students to go (in Ken Bain’s words) beyond “surface learning” (doing the minimum to say they completed the assignment) and experience “deep learning?” I guess I’m reiterating Janette’s question of how to turn the experience away from a focus on grades and towards a learning community.