Ethical issues with online group work

Emtinan Alqurashi

Working collaboratively in a group is an important skill to learn. (Morgan et. al., 2014). Figueira & Leal, (2013, p. 112) defined collaborative work as “a teaching strategy that makes the students become responsible for their learning and for the learning of their group fellows”. The idea of collaborative learning could seem interesting, however, many ethical issues found to be associated with it. The main common issues regarding group work in online learning environments are presented and discussed and possible solutions of how to overcomes these issues are provides.

The main common issues regarding group work in online learning environments are identified as follows:

1. Students don’t know how to work together in a group.2. Students don’t have the understanding of how to construct knowledge together.3. Grading and assessing individuals in a group work.

These problems occur because students don't seem to have the knowledge and skills needed to work in a group. However, if students master those skills and had the required knowledge, group work can be a beneficial experience. Morgan, et. al. (2014, p. 37) state, “Group work is a key pedagogical tool in the online classroom, allowing for student interaction to play an active role in the learning process”.

It is important to point out that putting students together in groups and ask them to work together doesn’t necessary result to having collaborative or cooperative work. Educators need to teach students what to do and how to do it. This can be done overtime, time is needed to teach and train students how to work together (Dooly, 2008); starting with less complex group activities to more complex ones. This is beneficial especially for students who are not familiar with how group activities work, to help them build knowledge and skills to be prepared for more future collaborative work (Roberts & McInnerney, 2007). The foundation of group work (collaborative and cooperative) is to learn to construct knowledge, and students need to understand this learning process. This can be done by “activating already existent cognitive structures or by constructing new cognitive structures that accommodate new input” (Dooly, 2008, p. 22). In this process, students become independent learners and responsible for their own learning as well as their peers’; and as a result, “knowledge is constructed, and transformed by students” (Dooly, 2008, p. 22). Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools can be a good way for students to exchange information whether it was synchronously or asynchronously. However, it is important for instructor to understand that there is no best method for doing this; it depends on many factors such as “group personality, local constraints, age of students, objectives of the overall project and many other contextual factors” (Dooly, 2008, p. 45).

Group assessment is another critical issue associated with group work (Figueira & Leal, 2013; Roberts & McInnerney, 2007). Webb (1994), (cited in Roberts & McInnerney, 2007, p. 264) stated that the “purpose of assessment is to measure group

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productivity” and to measure if students were able to work together and were effective members of a group. Therefore, assessing individual’s contribution to the group is as important as the final production of the group. The idea of evaluating students in a group work can seem challenging simply because individuals are not working individually but they are working with others.

Dooly (2008) and Roberts & McInnerney (2007) have discussed some ways to ensure fairness in grading individuals in group-work and to ensure participation by all group members. The instructor could ask students to provide anonymous assessment of other group members. Students can use different techniques to assess their peers (such as creating a pie chart) to show how much each member contributed in the group. If the majority of the group member reported someone as a not working member, that person’s grades can be affected. The instructor may also let group members to vote to dismiss a student from the group if he/she was reported as non-working member. The instructor should provide guidelines for students to self and peer evaluation. Dooly, (2008) has provided some examples of guidelines for the assessment report: “participation (quality and quantity), preparation (collaboration), punctuality (interpersonal skills), respect (interpersonal skills), contribution of ideas (collaboration), creativity (problem-solving), and commitment (collaboration)”.

Although there are other possible issues with online group work that have not been examined here, three main common problems were discussed and explored. This can help educators to understand what issues they may face in online group works and how to deal with them.

References

Dooly, M. (2008) Constructing Knowledge Together. In Dooly, M. (ed.) Telecollaborative Language Learning: A guidebook to moderating intercultural collaboration online, pp. 21-44. Bern: Peter Lang.

Figueira, A., & Leal, H. (2013). An online tool to manage and assess collaborative group work. Paper presented at the 112-XIII. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1467835970?accountid=10610

Morgan, K., Williams, K. C., Cameron, B. A., & Wade, C. E. (2014). FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE GROUP WORK. Quarterly Review Of Distance Education, 15(4), 37-42.

Roberts, T. S., & McInnerney, J. M. (2007). Seven Problems of Online Group Learning (and Their Solutions). Educational Technology & Society, 10(4), 257-268.

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