Personal Blogs

Hi All

I'm using the blog today to make note on a few reflections after our recent group activity. I think the use of this training method is a challenging and particulary reflective method. I use group projects frequently on the Business Administration course I run. Of course an online group activity is even more challenging.

Following the activity, I feel the main difference between an online and class group is the start-up. The first thing done in a classroom is to physically group together, have a discussion and come to some agreement about the delegation of responsibilities, deadlines etc.

In an online context I found this to be the major barrier to group cohesion. Essentially as a group we had to wait for everybody to come on board, eventually a small number having to take responsibility and start the project, no knowing if the rest were going to come on board or if they were keeping tabs on what was happening.

Again in a classroom context the group would regularly meet up for lectures, may meet socially or contact via mobile phone or e-mail.

A further challenge I found was without everybody visibly on board it limited the amount of feedback on the work being done.

Finally, the project was left open waiting on others to contribute, I acted upon this and set a deadline via the forum. At this point, more learners came on board which presented another challenge of hoe to integrate them into the project work.

Again I feel it all comes back to the start of the project getting everybody on board and assessing everybody ability and time to contribute.

Karl