Davetta A. Henderson, Ed.D.

September, 2015

Welcome

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward

a common vision. The ability to direct individual

accomplishment toward organizational

objectives. It is the fuel that allows common

people to attain uncommon results.”

Andrew Carnegie, American Industrialist and Philanthropist

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Agenda

• Define and Discuss Perceptions

• Group vs. Team

• Faculty Perceptions

• Student Perceptions

• Student Challenges

• Recommendations

• Areas to Create

• Tools

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The Reality of Perception

• What are perceptions?

• Influences on perception (perceptual set)

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Some Perspectives on Perception

• Signal Detection Theory

• Top-Down Processing

• Bottom-Up Processing

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Group Work vs. Team Work

What’s the difference?

Group – little collaboration

Team – collaboration, working toward a goal

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Faculty Perceptions of Group Work

• Group work is important for career success

• Group work is an important skill in the workplace

• Allows students to play an active role in the learning

process

• Faculty professional development is needed in this area

• Group work requires more of a time commitment

• The group community is established with interactions

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(cont’d.) Faculty Perceptions

• Students know how to delegate tasks

• Group work is more challenging in an online environment

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Student Perceptions of Group Work

• Classmate and faculty interactions have an impact on

satisfaction

• Sufficient learner support that is connected to the campus

is needed

• They have to ‘give in’ to others ideas

• There is lack of individual accountability – social loafing

• Group work is used to reduce faculty grading

• Group work would be better if they could select their own

group members

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(cont’d.) Student Perceptions

• Appreciation of the help from peers

• This is an opportunity to socialize with peers

• They understand the application of group work to

employment

• Others will cause me to fail

• Group work is a positive experience if everyone

participates

• Working within a group will slow me down

• Influenced by personal factors

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Student Challenges With Group Work

• Communication between group members and the instructor (includes language barriers)

• Time management

• Differing levels of expertise, opinions, and learning styles

• Challenges with bringing the group together

• Differing perceptions of level of engagement

• Differing levels of commitment

• Differing levels of motivation

• Adherence to deadlines

• Resolving group conflicts

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(Cont’d.) Student Challenges

• The concern of social loafing in others

• The lack of participation or withdrawal of group members

• Social skills

• How to initiate and maintain the group interaction

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Changing Perceptions

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Faculty Recommendations

• Make group participation visible

• Use an online sharing area or a wiki

• Decide whether or not to assign group roles

• Post a guide that list successful group processes

• Provide audio feedback to the group

• Emphasize why the group work is valuable and necessary

• Provide an outlet or suggestions of help with group

conflicts to increase group collaboration

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(Cont’d.) Recommendations

• Create small groups (but not too small)

• Elicit feedback on the group experience (reflection) – not

shared with other students

• Assign a group leader/recommend students assign a

group leader

• Provide timely suggestions – timeline for project

• Provide feedback on group progress

• Focus on the benefits of collaborating with others and the

brainstorming process

• Keep a constant presence in the classroom

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(cont’d.) Recommendations

• Provide students with group/team resources

• Monitor the group’s progress

• Introduce the student group members very early in the

term

• Explain upfront how the group project will be graded

• Provide consistent and broad communication

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Areas to Create Positive Perceptions • Discussion Forum

• Course Lounge

• Messaging

• Announcements

• Resources

• Outside reference material (articles, links, a video, etc.)

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Group Tools • appear.in

• Skype

• Discussion boards

• Wikis

• Wiggio

• HipChat

• GroupMe

• Bindle

• Google Groups/Google Docs

• Groupbox

• ooVoo

• Other

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Resources

• Burke, A. (2011). Group Work: How to Use Groups Effectively. The Journal of

Effective Teaching, Vol. 11(2), 87-95.

• Fedynich, L., Bradley, K. S. & Bradley, J. (2015). Graduate students’ perceptions of

online learning. Research in Higher Education Journal, v27, 13 pp.

• Jackson, D., Hickman, L. D., Power, T., Disler, R., Potgieter, I., Deek, H. &

Davidson, P. M. (2014). Contemporary Nurse: A Journal for the Australian Nursing

Profession. v48(1), p117-128. 12pp.

• Jones, K. A., & Jones, J. L. (2008). Making cooperative learning work in the college

classroom: An application of the “five pillars” of cooperative learning to post-

secondary instruction. The Journal of Effective Teaching, 8(2), 61-76.

• Marks, M. B. & O’Connor, A. H. (2013). Understanding Students’ Attitudes About

Group Work: What Does This Suggest for Instructors of Business? Journal of

Education for Business, 88: 147–158.

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(cont’d.) Resources

• Morgan, Kari, Williams, Karen C., Cameron, Bruce A., Wade, Christine E. (2014).

Faculty perceptions of online group work. The Quarterly Review of Distance

Education, v15(4), pp. 37–41.

• O’Neill, S., Scott, M., & Conboy, K. (2011). A Delphi study on collaborative learning

in distance education: The faculty perspective. British Journal of Educational

Technology, 42, 939–949.

• Portolese, D. L. & Trumpy, R. (2014). Online Instructor's Use of Audio Feedback to

Increase Social Presence and Student Satisfaction. Journal of Educators Online,

v11(2).

• Smith, G., et al. (2011).Overcoming student resistance to group work: Online

versus face-to-face. Internet & Higher Education, 14, 121-128.

• Xu, J., Du, J., & Fan, X. (2015). Students’ Groupwork Management in Online

Collaborative Learning Environments. Educational Technology & Society, 18 (2),

195–205.

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