Making Online Teams Work

Jane Barrett Helen Kaye

Wendy Knightley Sue Rattray

COHERE 2014Regina, Canada; October 2014

The project team•Jane Barrett, Helen Kaye, Wendy Knightley - team members and lecturers in Psychology dept, Faculty of Social Sciences•Sue Rattray – Associate Lecturer (psychology) and tutor moderator

Our paperHELEN KAYE, JANE P. BARRETT, WENDY M. KNIGHTLEY (2013) Student Preference for Residential or Online Project Work in Psychology, Psychology Learning & Teaching, 12(2), 196-202. http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/plat.2013.12.2.196

Our participantsAll the students and associate lecturers who have taken part in our studies

Thanks also to:•Internal funding from: CIC and SEP-AP•Photos are from the OU Digital Archives

Acknowledgements

The Open University: the vision, scale, diversity and accessibility

No formal entry requirements

Largest number of registered students in the UK•more than 200,000 part-time students•nearly 6,400 tutors•more than 1,100 full-time academic staff•more than 3,500 support staff

Scale - has an impact on how we support students with their academic and study skills

Compulsion and choice

Accredited qualification

Online equivalent?

Residential school?Or …

Student choice: residential or online?

Residential school Online equivalent

(1) Social aspects of learning

(2) Accessibility

(3) Timing and speed of completion

(1) Opportunity cost

(2) Home responsibilities

(3) Timing and accessibility

(4) Work and caring commitments

Online teams: what we want

Online teams: What do students say about collaborative work?

Best Thing

0 10 20 30 40

Friendship/meeting others

Doing research

immersion in project work

Working in a group

Broadening knowledge

Flexibility of study

Working from home

Number of Responses

On-line project

Residential School

Worst thing

Worst thing – group dynamics“[it was …] Very hard working with a group using asynchronous forums - extremely hard to have debates and disagreements”

“Working with lazy people”

“Being part of a group - where it was difficult to ensure that everyone contributed equally and consistently”

Online teams: what tutors say

Comparing the groups

Best Groups Worst Groups

• The group needed guidance

from their tutor(s) before

making a decision

• Their tutor(s) made frequent

contributions to the forum

• Students needed tutor input

to resolve disputes amongst

group members

• All ideas and information

were shared

• All members of the group

were invited to contribute to

the discussion

• Opinions and ideas were

respected and considered by

the students in the group

Online team building: a simulation

More tasks than 1 person can do

Build on strengths within a team?

Assign tasks?

Complete tasks

Reflect on process

Produce jointly agreed ground rules for working together online

Online team building: the volunteers

13 students volunteered9 females; 4 malesA range of ages, from under 21 to 50-59Ethnicity – mainly white …Previous education - secondary level;

1 person with no formal qualifications5 students with disabilitiesVaried motivations for studyingVaried occupational status; 1 unemployed student

Online team building: the volunteers

• 13 volunteers• 8 posted a forum message• 7 completed the tasks• 6 completed the satisfaction survey

Collaboration, Forums, AffordanceInformation transmission

Collaboration

Tutor posts messages

Students post– tutor answers

Students post – peer answers

Students initiate a thread of conversation

Students respond to messages

Students post additions or corrections to messages

Students work together to create something new

Cooperation

Tutor Moderator viewGroup A: •Received more direction from moderator than other groups•One member was ‘a driving force’•Students worked separately on the tasks – [cooperatively]•Not all tasks were completed

Group B: •No driving force •Lack of team-working skills “[…] to achieve anything beyond their individual competences” •More intervention needed:

– “If I were supporting the groups through a module I would certainly have intervened fairly quickly with group B to prevent them from getting behind [...]”

Group C: My Blog!• Only group who finished all tasks:

“They have motored through all the tasks and have finished, including the ground rules.”

• Do pairs work more efficiently?

“Perhaps it’s easier with just two of them – they don’t need to wait for another person to input.”

• Division of labour and assignment of roles

“And perhaps there [weren’t] enough tasks with sufficient complexity to put sufficient strain on two of them. X devised most of those (and they look good), although Y added a couple.”

• Fun!

“They seem to have enjoyed working together.”

8 T on an OBlue – 19:48Hi, Not very good at this one, but so far:1. 8=T on an O - 8 toes on an orangutan?2. 8=P in the SS - ?[…]

Orange – 21:02[…] Not sure about the orangutan's toes but I'll take your word for it.

Green – 21:13ive had that somewhere else before on like a puzzle thing and was 8 tentacles on a octopus - but that doesnt mean that is right for this one lol

Orange – 21:28ooh yes that would work. What do you think […]?

Blue – next day, 18:30Great work! Let's go with 8 tentacles on an octopus, it's much better than 8 toes on an orangutan! 

Why don’t students participate?

2 students withdrew from the studyOne said it was because he didn’t have timeThe other said it was because of internet problems

5 students never showed up

Some students contributed less than others

Project work is important? What can we do?

ConclusionsTutor moderator•Contributing to unfamiliar tasks•Forums:

– asynchronous environment means equitable access– Challenges: Engaging with discussion, rather than posting up messages – “They just want to do their bit and move on”

• Group composition is critical

My Blog!

“What a very interesting few days this has been. I need to ponder it all. Is this a useful teambuilding task? And is it worth the resource? It certainly needs time – students didn’t get going for several days and then motored as deadlines loomed and passed. Does it need a moderator (I think yes – [moderator] has been excellent in keeping an eye on things, and nudging them along)? And how many students should be in a group – or is it the engagement with the tasks that is key?”

Last word(le): from studentsWhat did you learn about online teamworking?

Collaborative activities: Student engagement and access

• Scalability: some students can do a task with minimal tutor input• Timing: it takes a long time for students to get going• Teamwork: not all groups will gel

• So we can’t leave them to themselves entirely

• Cooperation was evident• But what about collaboration? and deeper learning?

• Doing the tasks helped understanding of teamwork

7/13 participated in the tasks; can we make that 13/13?• Alternatively, for compulsory activities, how can we make them accessible for

all?• It is here that pedagogy fights with professionalism.

Questions?Tips?