Online Group Work

1
Online Group Work

• Margaret Spivey
• Hagerstown Community College
• Adapted from Twelve Ways to Better Team
  Building, Belzer, Ellen, To Lead or Not To Lead,
  Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies,
  1995.

2
Successful Component

• Online group/team work will be a successful
  component to your online instruction.
• Everyone knows that when people cooperate on a
  project (without wasting energy on rivalry and
  competitiveness), they can create powerful
  results.1
• 1 Twelve Ways to Better Team Building,
  Belzer, Ellen, To Lead or Not To Lead, Phi Theta
  Kappa Leadership Development Studies, 1995, p6.1.

3
Positive Experience

• More than likely, your goal for the online
  student is to participate in a positive
  experience. The following suggestions should be a
  consideration in developing your online course.
•  
• Ellen J. Belzer in her article, Twelve Ways to
  Better Team Building, lists twelve steps for the
  development of teams. Using her suggestions,
  techniques have been incorporated that can be
  utilized online.

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One Start with premeeting politicking

• Many online courses require an initial on-campus
  meeting, usually known as the course orientation.
  At this time, groups can be formed and
  getting-to-know-you exercises can be conducted.
• If the course is purely online, the instructor
  must take the initiative to choose members of the
  groups/teams. The instructor could create a list
  serve for each group and encourage the group
  members to do the same

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One Start with premeeting politicking, cont.

• Getting-to-know-you exercise Develop a one-week
  time frame to complete this task. Encourage
  members of the group to email each other and
  determine five facts about each person. The
  sixth fact should address the students
  motivation for participating in the course. This
  data should be sent to instructor for
  verification of this task completion.

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TWO Map out a team mission

• Students should be supplied with the goal, and an
  outline of the project. Instructor should clearly
  outline the mission of the group/team work. Each
  team should understand completely the purpose of
  the assignment. The overall goal, as viewed by
  the instructor, of the project should be stated
  here.

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TWO Map out a team mission, cont.

• The group/team members will be responsible for
  meeting the assigned goal. However, the members
  are totally responsible for the outcome,
  therefore, the actual goals may be altered during
  the time span of the course. Once the project is
  underway, the group/team members may possibly
  discover a new set of objectives and goals.

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THREE Define roles

• Clearly identify each persons role within the
  group. This could be handled in a format similar
  to a resume. Each person could submit a resume to
  one another and a copy send to the instructor.
  The resume could help identify strengths of each
  individual. It will be up to the group/team
  members to determine each persons role.

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FOUR Create a group identity

• Group/team members should decide among themselves
  on a name for their group. Formal or informal
  name, it doesnt really matter. Identification of
  the groups can then be used in any communication
  with the class.

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FIVE Draw up a game plan.

• Establishing definite days of the week that the
  group will meet online is essential. Include in
  that plan a definite time of day. This will take
  any mystery out of what is expected.
• Sticking to this game plan will insure that each
  group member will understand what each has
  contributed to-date.
• Contributions from each member will enable the
  group to interact smoothly. A group/team feeling
  will evolve from this schedule.

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SIX Use liberal doses of we and our.

• Continuing with the weekly collaborations will
  develop a team spirit. That team spirit should
  create a feeling of ownership by each team
  member. The instructor may ask the groups/teams
  to defend their findings at that point in time,
  the instructor may prompt the teams to accept
  responsibility for the findings by using the
  words we and our. This language recognizes
  the efforts of everyone on the team as well as
  recognizes the idea that everyone has a stake in
  the outcome.

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SEVEN Dont be a fact hog.

• If the students use email to communicate with one
  another, the list serve suggestion will
  automatically share all communications with
  everyone in the group/team. The instructor could
  be included in the list serve.

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EIGHT Encourage networking.

• Frequent scheduled contact is needed to keep all
  informed of any changes in the development of the
  project.

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NINE Encourage play time.

• Enormous amounts of knowledge can be shared
  during play time. If one feels that the
  pressure is off they are oftentimes open to new
  ideas. If this was a classroom situation, drinks
  and cookies could be brought in. How can you
  bring a sense of play time into the online
  course? Perhaps the sharing of online jokes could
  be considered. The instructor could be
  responsible for finding weekly Campus Humor,
  while the group/team members could bring humor
  into their list serves. There are many online
  puzzles or games that can be shared.

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TEN Reinforce the team concept.

• It is the instructors role to praise the team if
  they have completed a task well. Individuals can
  also be praised, but that should be done outside
  of the team communication.

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ELEVEN Use humor.

• Encouraging humorous dialogue within the
  groups/teams will aid to decrease stress and
  break tension.
• The team that laughs together

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TWELVE Develop an open atmosphere.

• Establish the ground rules
• Stress that all ideas are welcome
• Brainstorming is encouraged
• There are no wrong answers
• Encourage the groups/teams to make decisions by
  consensus rather than by vote. A positive
  atmosphere should be encouraged at all times.1
• 1 Twelve Ways to Better Team Building,
  Belzer, Ellen, To Lead or Not To Lead, Phi Theta
  Kappa Leadership Development Studies, 1995, p
  6.1-6.4.
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