Effective Group Work in Online Classes

Effective Group Work in Blackboard
Lisa Bunkowski, Ph.D. & Robert Worley, Ph.D.
Texas A&M University Central Texas
Texas A&M University Central Texas. Texas Blackboard Users Group Conference. 10-26-2012

Agenda
 Topics:
 Reasons for using Groups and Group Tools
 Creating shared student workspaces in Blackboard
 Examples of Group Activities & Grading Rubrics
 Getting the most out of your students
 Challenges & Suggestions for surmounting them
 Discussion, Q & A
Effective Group Work in Blackboard

Reasons for using
Groups and Group Tools

Reasons for using Groups and Group Tools
 Create online learning
communities
 Facilitate Team,
Groups, Peer Review,
and similar assignments
 Foster “connected”
learning styles

Notes:
 As suggested by Steven R. Aragon in his essay
2003 essay “Creating Social Presence in Online
Environments,” my course begins with a welcome
message and includes discussion threads as well as
a more structured, collaborative learning activity to
“increase learner-to-learner interaction.”
 Steven R. Aragon. “Creating Social Presence in Online Environments.” New
Directions for Adult and Continuing Education Winter 2003: 57-68.

Notes:
 Elizabeth Hayes and Daniele D. Flannery have
noted that much of the literature on women and
learning concludes that “women tend to prefer
learning in ways that allow them to connect new
concepts to personal experience; to integrate
cognitive and affective learning; and to engage in
communal as opposed to solitary knowledge-
building.”
 Elizabeth Hayes, and Daniele D. Flannery. “Adult Women’s Learning in
Higher Education: A Critical Review of Scholarship.” ERIC Speeches/
Meeting Papers; Information Analyses 1995: 1-14. ERIC Digest.

Notes:
 Online courses, according to David M. Anderson
and Carol J. Haddad “permit – and often
encourage – dialogue and connectedness,” and
thus they complement this “connected” learning
style. Of particular importance is their assertion
that the online course environment provides
students “with opportunities for self expression
that role socialization may inhibit in the face-to-
face environment.”
 David M. Anderson, and Carol J. Haddad. "Gender, Voice, and Learning in
Online Course Environments." JALN March 2005: 3-14.

Creating shared student
workspaces in Blackboard

Creating Groups
Making use of the Blackboard LMS

Setting up the Group Parameters

Select the Group Tools & Members
Alvarez, Taylor
Bunkowski, Lisa (Instructor)
Cook, Philippa
Lopez, Sarina
Matthews, David
Smith, John
Zeng, Michael

Add the Group link to the Course Menu

Examples of Group Activities
& Grading Rubrics

Examples of Group Activities & Rubrics
 Group tools used:
 Discussion
 Collaborate
 File Exchange
 Email
 Sophomore-level Course:
History & Culture of
Latin America
 Collaboration on a
Research Project

 Collaborative Research Project:
• Each group will research the independence
movement of a specific country in Latin
America.
 Your group will work together to produce a multimedia
presentation and text component. This presentation will be
shared with the class during Week 8.
 You group will moderate a discussion of the project.

 Each person will work on a different aspect of the topic. Your
grade is based on your contribution. You will NOT be penalized if
others in your group fail to complete their assigned tasks.
 Each person is responsible for the following:
 Five-page examination of their part of the topic (decide as a team, which
members will cover which portions). This material will be shared with the
class during your Collaborate presentation.
 Two (2) images that illustrate your topic, to include in the Collaborate
presentation, properly cited.
 Three (3) annotated sources for the group bibliography which will be shared
with the class. (You may use web resources, but the must be
academic/scholarly sources).
 Use the group File Exchange to share your completed individual
work, and use your group discussion forum to discuss the
project.

Grading Criteria/Rubric for the Project
Participation in Group Discussion (10 pts possible): Discuss assignment of
individual topics, share work, compile completed group project for instructor to
share with class.
Presentation Contribution (40 pts possible): Content and format of your
presentation materials, relevance of the information you included, proper format
(grammar, punctuation, spelling, originality, full citation information, annotated
sources), posted in time for group members to review (no later than Sunday of Week
6), participation in Collaborate session by discussing your portion of the project.
All Class Discussion (10 pts possible): Respond to student questions about the
project, and actively participate in discussion of the other student projects.
Total Possible: 60 points

 Graduate-level Course
 Peer Review of student
work
 Group tools used:
 Discussion
 Chat (now Collaborate)
 File Exchange
 Email

Notes:
 Criteria discussed in the Peer Review:
The student's discussion of author's thesis: clarity, importance
The student's discussion of the author's use of evidence:
relevance, strength, credibility
The student's organization of their critical review essay:
clarity, arrangement of ideas, guiding the reader
Mechanics of the student's essay: spelling, grammar,
punctuation
Overall effectiveness of the student's essay.
What did you learn from reading this critical review?

Getting the most
out of your students

Challenge Your Students
 More complex, challenging
tasks can be accomplished
by a group effort

Challenge Your Students
 Students can find
engagement with each
other, the course materials,
and the instructor through
group activities

Challenges & Suggestions for
surmounting them

Challenges and Suggestions
 Playing Referee!
 Students working in groups
can generate conflict –
making you feel like a
referee.
 Suggestion: make sure you
are enrolled in each working
group. Monitor their
progress, and step before it
becomes a crisis. Often just
knowing you can see their
progress will help the less
active to step up their game.
 Have a clear grading rubric!

Notes: The “slacker”
 I occasionally find that a student will “slack” while
others do the work. His or her peers will often tattle
on the offending student.

Notes: The “slacker”
 By being enrolled in each working group, they all
know that I can see what is going on – who
participates in the group’s discussions and other
activities – and who does not.
 There is no need for them to “tattle” – and the
grading rubric makes it clear that these folks will not
negatively affect the grade of their group, nor will
they benefit from work they have not done
themselves.

Challenges and Suggestions
 Putting out Fires!
 Things do not always go as
planned.
 Suggestion: be prepared
with a Plan B; be creative
and flexible! Monitor
group progress and step in
with the new plan, the
back-up files, or the
creative solution before it
becomes a 3-alarm fire!

Notes: The site is down!
 My example: I had a class working with an
external web site of WWII memoirs. The site is
based out of Russia.
 While I was attending a conference, the site
went down and students could not access the
database to work on their projects.

Notes: The site is down!
 I turned to the Internet Archive to find a cached
copy of the web site. I copied their research
materials, and posted these as pdf’s to the file
exchanges of each group.
 This was a serviceable work-around to keep the
groups on track until the site came back up.

Lisa M. Bunkowski, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of History
lisa.bunkowski@ct.tamus.edu
Robert M. Worley, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice
Thank you for joining us!

Effective Group Work in Online Classes

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