Creating and collaborating: students’ and tutors’ perceptions of an online group project

Although collaboration skills are highly valued by employers, convincing students that collaborative learning activities are worthwhile, and ensuring that the experience is both useful and enjoyable, are significant challenges for educators. This paper addresses these challenges by exploring students’ and tutors’ experiences of a group project where part-time distance learners collaborate online to create a website. Focus groups were conducted with students who had recently completed the project, and discussion forums were used to gather feedback from tutors who supported students and marked their group work. The research showed that students’ attitudes towards the group project on completion were generally favourable. Findings highlighted key aspects for successful online group projects and for motivating students to participate fully. These included: the design of authentic tasks, with skills development relevant to the workplace; careful attention to how the group work is assessed; and enabling students to develop websites they could be proud of. Frustrations for students were associated with the lack of engagement of fellow students and with limitations of the tool provided for building the website. Tutors found marking the work a time-consuming and complex process. Tutors were also unconvinced of the value and fairness of assessing students partly on a group, as opposed to an individual, basis

Using wikis for online group projects: student and tutor perspectives

This paper presents a study of the use of wikis to support online group projects in two courses at the UK Open University. The research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a wiki in supporting (i) student collaboration and (ii) tutors’ marking of the students’ collaborative work. The paper uses the main factors previously identified by the technology acceptance model (TAM) as a starting point to examine and discuss the experiences of these two very different user groups: students and tutors. Data was gathered from students via a survey and from tutors via a range of methods. The findings suggest that, when used in tandem with an online forum, the wiki was a valuable tool for groups of students developing a shared resource. As previous studies using the TAM have shown, usefulness and ease of use were both important to students’ acceptance of the wiki. However, the use of a wiki in this context was less well-received by tutors, because it led to an increase in their workload in assessing the quality of students’ collaborative processes. It was possible to reduce the tutor workload by introducing a greater degree of structure in the students’ tasks. We conclude that when introducing collaborative technologies to support assessed group projects, the perceptions and needs of both students and tutors should be carefully considered

Assessing online collaborative work

Skills in communicating and collaborating are highly valued by employers. However, a significant challenge facing educators is convincing students that collaborative learning activities are worthwhile. This session discusses research that explored student and tutor perceptions of online group projects. The context is an undergraduate module in communication technology, where groups of part-time distance learners collaborate online to create the content for a wiki, and a website for a particular scenario (e.g. a walking club or a cafe). The group work is supported and marked by students’ tutors. Marks are given for the products students create and the process of the collaboration; some marks are individual, and some are for the group as a whole. The research explored students’ and tutors’ experiences of the following key areas: • The collaboration – how students connect with each other, and how they use online tools to plan and carry out the collaborative work. • The task – what students are asked to do, and to create, and how this relates to their learning and professional practice (Herrington et al., 2010) • The assessment– how the activities and outputs are marked, so that contributions are fairly assessed (Roberts & McInnerney, 2007; Strauss et al., 2014). An online survey was used to obtain feedback from 74 students on the wiki element of the group project, and online focus groups were conducted with 27 students to explore the website element in detail. Discussion forums were used to gather feedback from 18 tutors. Thematic analysis was applied to the qualitative data collated via these methods, and the findings were organised around the three aspects highlighted above. In terms of the collaboration, the findings show that most students found this challenging yet rewarding; however, the group work caused anxiety for some students. In terms of the task, there was a tension between giving students the opportunity to explore technically challenging solutions; and ensuring that their time was focused on the key aspects. In terms of the assessment, students were divided about the fairness of having group marks; tutors thought group marks did not fairly reflect the division of work among group members. Based on these findings, an assessment framework is proposed that can be applied to the design and assessment of online group work. The framework promotes consideration of how marks are divided between: • the collaboration process, and the final products created; • group marks and individual marks. Participants in the session will be invited to consider how this framework can best be applied, so that online group projects are engaging to students and are fairly assessed. References Herrington, J., Reeves, T.C. and Oliver, R. (2010) A Guide to Authentic eLearning. Routledge, New York. Roberts, T.S. & McInnerney, J.M. (2007). Seven problems of online group learning (and their solutions). Educational Technology & Society, 10(4), 257-268. Strauss, P. U-Mackey, A. & Crothers, C. (2014). ‘They drag my marks down!’ – challenges faced by lecturers in the allocation of marks for multicultural group projects. Intercultural education, 25(3), 229-241

Web Conferencing: The Technical and Social Challenges

Society, people, and institutions have reaped the benefits of technologies that allow online meetings and collaboration in real-time ¬¬¬¬- often known as web conferencing technologies. Most of the benefits of these technologies were observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, where efforts to prevent the spread of the virus introduced mass social distancing. In higher education, web conferencing benefits a growing number of students across the world. It enables synchronous online learning, where learning takes place in real time, with communication technologies that permit live audio, video, and text transmission. Extant research suggests that the interplay of technical and social challenges within synchronous online learning, before the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, has not been comprehensively investigated. Additionally, there is a need for thorough studies on the effects of prolonged virtual interactions on individuals, teams, and organizations, stemming from the features of web conferencing technologies. This paper reports ongoing research aimed at exploring the technical and social challenges that affect the success of web conferencing in synchronous online learning. The research investigates the experiences of students and teachers who use these technologies for learning and teaching, and the challenges they face. The work uses theories of technology acceptance and the psychology of user behaviours. The research aims to advance knowledge and offer valuable information to educators and learners. It seeks to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning processes using web conferencing technologies, ensuring that they successfully achieve their intended outcomes. The results of this study, in the long-term, will also inform the development of better and improved interventions, practices and strategies for web conferencing, that can be applied in educational and even commercial contexts. The paper also discusses an exploratory study that was conducted to explore the effects of webcam usage on learner engagement in training and tutorial sessions among higher education students. The exploratory study showed that the webcam, even though rarely used in most sessions, had an impact on learner engagement, and can be explored further. Additionally, the technical and social aspects in these online sessions are complex and need more examination

Emotion regulation strategies and goals of distance learning students in an assessed online collaborative project

Being able to effectively regulate emotions is viewed as a crucial process in online learning. With an increasing use of social and collaborative activities in online learning environments, there are many unique challenges that may impact emotion regulation in these settings, such as a lack of social and emotional cues. Currently, there is limited research exploring emotion regulation strategies (i.e. how learners regulate their emotions) and emotion regulation goals (i.e. why learners regulate their emotions) of students in these online collaborative learning environments. In the present study, the emotion regulation strategies and goals used by 17 distance learning students undertaking an assessed, online, collaborative group project were explored. An online diary was used to gather self-report data at six-time points during the group activity. In each diary entry, participants were asked to select both a pleasant and unpleasant emotion they had experienced in relation to the group project, and indicate whether they had attempted to regulate each emotion. If they had, they were asked to describe how and why they had tried to regulate their emotions. Results revealed that students used a variety of strategies to regulate pleasant and unpleasant emotions. It was also found that participants described having emotion regulation goals primarily aimed at changing the momentary emotional experience (hedonic goals) as well as goals focused on other outcomes resulting from changing the experience or expression of specific emotions (instrumental goals). A brief discussion of the implications for educators and learning designers conclude this presentation

Learning and peer feedback in shared online spaces

Peer feedback, where students evaluate and give comments on each other's work, is a valued form of learning activity. Giving and receiving peer feedback, particularly if assessed, encourages students to engage with the assessment criteria and reflect on their work, promoting a deeper understanding. This paper introduces a project to investigate approaches to using peer feedback in shared online spaces, as part of distance learning courses. One approach uses a wiki, where students each contribute their work and other students provide evaluative comments and advice. The other approach uses OpenStudio, a 'studio' environment where students upload self-produced media objects, such as photographs and presentations, and comment on each other's work. Both approaches have produced high levels of student engagement. An initial examination of peer feedback in a wiki indicates that the quality of feedback is high, but students do not make as much use of it as they might. Survey results for a course using a studio (with feedback from peers but not tutors) reveals some students who, while they enjoy the sharing activities, believe they need 'expert' opinion. This project will evaluate these two approaches to online peer feedback in order to identify successful features in terms of (a) engaging students and (b) promoting student learning. The project will also identify areas for improvement. The first stage will map the uses of peer feedback in Computing and IT courses of the UK Open University. This stage will document: the educational objectives and intended learning outcomes of the activities; what students share and discuss in the activities; and, if the activities are assessed, how this is done. The second stage will evaluate the peer feedback activities in three courses which use online spaces for sharing and peer feedback. Data will be collected from students and tutors through focus groups and online surveys. The course forums will also be used to invite students to give their views. A qualitative analysis will be undertaken of online artefacts and interactions. Skills in evaluating the work of others and giving constructive feedback are important, both in education and beyond. This project will help develop these skills in online learning students. It will do this by generating case studies, investigating learning designs and proposing best practice guidelines for using and assessing online peer feedback

The impact of emotions on student participation in an assessed, online, collaborative activity

There is growing recognition of the importance of emotions in academic online learning contexts. However, there is still little known about the role of emotions in social and collaborative online learning settings, especially the relationship between emotions and student participation. To explore this relationship, this study used a prospective longitudinal research design to follow 46 distance learning students throughout a 3-week assessed, online, collaborative activity. This approach allowed the fluctuating and dynamic aspects of emotions to be explored as well as the relationship between emotions and student participation in the collaborative activity. Self-report data were gathered using a semistructured online diary at five time points throughout the task (once at the start of the collaborative activity, three times during the activity, and the final entry after the activity had finished). Findings revealed that learners generally perceived pleasant emotions (such as relief, satisfaction and enjoyment) to have positive impacts, or no impact, on participation, whereas unpleasant emotions (such as anxiety, frustration, and disappointment) were generally perceived to have negative impacts, or no impact, on participation. Interestingly, however, anxiety, and to a smaller extent frustration, were perceived by a number of students to have positive impacts during the activity. To conclude this paper, implications for educators are highlighted

Learning and peer feedback in shared online spaces

Peer feedback, where students evaluate and give comments on each other's work, is a valued form of learning activity. Giving and receiving peer feedback, particularly if assessed, encourages students to engage with the assessment criteria and reflect on their work, promoting a deeper understanding. This paper introduces a project to investigate approaches to using peer feedback in shared online spaces, as part of distance learning courses. One approach uses a wiki, where students each contribute their work and other students provide evaluative comments and advice. The other approach uses OpenStudio, a 'studio' environment where students upload self-produced media objects, such as photographs and presentations, and comment on each other's work. Both approaches have produced high levels of student engagement. An initial examination of peer feedback in a wiki indicates that the quality of feedback is high, but students do not make as much use of it as they might. Survey results for a course using a studio (with feedback from peers but not tutors) reveals some students who, while they enjoy the sharing activities, believe they need 'expert' opinion. This project will evaluate these two approaches to online peer feedback in order to identify successful features in terms of (a) engaging students and (b) promoting student learning. The project will also identify areas for improvement. The first stage will map the uses of peer feedback in Computing and IT courses of the UK Open University. This stage will document: the educational objectives and intended learning outcomes of the activities; what students share and discuss in the activities; and, if the activities are assessed, how this is done. The second stage will evaluate the peer feedback activities in three courses which use online spaces for sharing and peer feedback. Data will be collected from students and tutors through focus groups and online surveys. The course forums will also be used to invite students to give their views. A qualitative analysis will be undertaken of online artefacts and interactions. Skills in evaluating the work of others and giving constructive feedback are important, both in education and beyond. This project will help develop these skills in online learning students. It will do this by generating case studies, investigating learning designs and proposing best practice guidelines for using and assessing online peer feedback

Online group projects in higher education: persistent challenges and implications for practice

With the rapid adoption of online learning across higher education, there is an urgent need to identify its challenges and ways of addressing them. Online group projects, in particular, present significant issues for educators. This paper presents the findings of a systematic literature review identifying the key challenges of online group projects, together with strategies to address them. From a corpus of 114 recent papers, the 57 most relevant were analysed, to identify themes related to challenges and strategies. Key challenges were: low and uneven participation by students; a lack of clarity and preparation for students; and poor relationships. Strategies for addressing challenges were: careful design of projects, particularly regarding fair assessment; clear guidance and preparation of students; and practical and emotional support throughout, to encourage confidence and engagement. The findings of this review will enable educators to design and facilitate online group projects which students find rewarding and valuable

Using real time student feedback as an emotion awareness and regulation tool in an assessed, online, collaborative project

Over the last decade, research has increasingly highlighted the inextricable links between emotion and cognition as well as the profound effects emotions have in academic contexts in both individual and social learning settings (Pekrun and Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2012). Although much of this research has been undertaken in face-to-face learning, such notions have also been evidenced in online learning environments (Henritius et al., 2019; Reis et al., 2018). With the increased understanding of the importance of emotions in educational contexts, researchers have started to develop tools that can be used by students to help raise awareness of their emotions and help them regulate their feelings when undertaking learning activities (Järvelä et al., 2016). One such tool is The Socio-Emotional Sampling Tool (SEST) (Webster and Hadwin, 2013) which aims to prompt students to metacognitively monitor and evaluate their current emotional state before, during and after undertaking computer-supported collaborative learning activities. The SEST has been developed to have both research and instructional purposes; on the one hand, it can be used as a research tool to collect data about students’ emotional experiences, whilst on the other hand it can be used as an instructional tool to help students become more aware of their emotions and think about ways of regulating their feelings. In this research, we have adapted the SEST and implemented this tool (using real time student feedback) throughout an 9-week assessed, online collaborative project in the Communication and Information Technologies (TM255) module at The Open University. Specifically, students were presented with the opportunity to fill out short feedback forms on four occasions throughout the project (once before it had started, twice during the project, and once after it had finished). Although each form aimed to assess students’ current feelings towards the activity, the two forms completed during the task were also aimed at getting students to think about how they could regulate their emotions. Links to each of the four forms were embedded into the weekly content of module’s Virtual Learning Environment. In this presentation, we will report preliminary findings from the study as well as discuss practical implications of using real time student feedback as an emotion awareness and regulation tool in assessed, online, collaborative projects in a distance learning setting