Online Group Work

A photo of the Blue Man Group members working together to solve a problem.

Blue Man photo by Roger Smith CC-NC-ND

Online group projects are challenging to design.

Every single student has had the experience of receiving a poor grade on a group project because a peer did not hold up his or her end of the bargain. Collaboration skills are important for students to learn but students also deserve projects that are well thought out, appropriate for group activities, organized clearly, and have clear expectations. That's no short order.

As you design a group project, understand that collecting your students' feedback at the end will be critical to its success. Ideally, it's best to seed projects with opportunities for students to provide feedback on a project throughout its lifecycle. A simple question sent out to the class in a survey (try using Google Forms for your surveys) like:

  • I understand what I am required to do for this project (Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Somewhat Disagree, Strongly Disagree)
    • Results from this question would inform you about how successfully you have communicated clear objectives for the project.

The following pages include some helpful tips and strategies for designing group activities for your online class. Ask your peers for more advice! There are always plenty of great ideas left to discover!