Dealing with this topic I have come to realize how narrow my understanding of collaborative learning has been. Collaboration in e-learning is not confined to the boundaries of the course. Instead, using social media each student can connect with and exchange knowledge and ideas with a vast network of people outside of the formal learning environment. Dron & Anderson (2014) make the distinction between this kind of networked learning and group-based learning, and suggest that networks help bridge theory and practice, provide students with a basis of lifelong professional education and learning, and provide opportunities for mentoring, recommendations and guidance.

Group-based learning can facilitate collaborative learning in a more traditional sense, that is by encouraging students to interact with each other in order to achieve a common goal. While collaborative learning is associated with positive outcomes it is not always valued by students, and thus organizers need to consider how  to design their courses in order to ensure student participation in online collaboration.  While grading is often used as an incentive, Brindley et al. (2009) suggest a variety of instructional strategies as an alternative:

• Make sure students have the skills and tools necessary for group work, e.g. planning and negotiation skills, information literacy skills, statements about expectations.
• Make sure to balance structure (clarity of task) and autonomy (flexibility of task), e.g. provide clear instructions about the task while allowing students to form their own groups and select topics.
• Make sure students are able to build relationships and develop a sense of community, e.g. by creating a friendly, trusting atmosphere.
• Make sure to provide continuous feedback during the collaborative process, e.g. help students stay focused, help with relationship building and provide reassurance.
• Make sure that the task is relevant for students, e.g. allow them to control and direct their own learning.
• Make sure group work really is the best approach to the task, e.g. chose tasks that benefit from team work.
• Make sure to provide sufficient time for the task

Adhering to these instructions will supposedly allow for students to allocate their time and energy on relevant issues, and to experience collaborative learning as meaningful and beneficial. While I find this advice to be highly relevant and in line with  my own experience, I am not sure if and why they are specific for online learning. I  believe too often group work is used as a means to make life easier for teachers rather than as a deliberate tool for enhanced learning, contributing to students negative experiences of group work. According to Capdeferro and Romero (2012), students experience frustration in relation to online learning. Sources of frustration include group members not participating or contributing, imbalance in quality of contributions, lack of assessment of individual contributions, lack of shared goals, difficulties in regard to communication, problems with negotiation skills, conflicts, and instructor inaction. Given the difficulties involved, I believe it unethical for teachers to engage students in collaborative learning without addressing these issues and providing a sound rationale for group-based learning.

Besides networked and group-based learning, Dron and Anderson (2014) also describe how students can engage in sets-based learning which is about ”sharing ideas, resources, tools, media, and knowledge, and engaging with others on an ad hoc, transient basis” (p.197). A typical example of set-based learning would be Wikipedia were people can generate content in cooperation with other users, and others can access content, without anyone necessarily engaging in dialogue with each other.

As Wikipedia is often regarded as an unreliable source not to be used in academic writing or research, it might be of value to consider its merits from the perspective of collaborative learning. Dron and Anderson (2014) suggest that Wikipedia ”has a place in almost any learning transaction” (p.193) and provides examples of teachers engaging students to make active contributions. In a blog post Orlowitz (2017) suggest that we should focus on intelligent information consumption as Wikipedia is ”a forum for practicing vital skills of information literacy and digital citizenship”.

References

Brindley, J., Blaschke, L. M. & Walti, C. (2009). Creating effective collaborative learning groups in an online environment. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10(3).

Capdeferro, N. & Romero, M. (2012). Are online learners frustrated with collaborative learning experiences?. The International review of research in open and distance learning, 13(2), 26-44.

Dron, J. & Anderson, T. (2014). Teaching crowds: Learning and social media. Athabasca University Press.

Orlowitz, J. (2017). Things my professor never told me about Wikipedia.