Midterm Reflection

After taking quite a few online courses I am forced to reflect on the role of collaborative activities. In a F2F classroom such activities are quickly and relatively easily organized first by the instructor and then by the student participants. It is then relatively simple to monitor performance and achievement within collaborative groups as the instructor can circulate or even observe from within the class and evaluate the working process of any group or even any individual student. But in translating the collaborative process into an online environment there are a number of drawbacks and pitfalls. Depending on the available tools the instructor may not know of problems until long after they arise. For the student, or at least for me as a student, both synchronous and asynchronous formats are difficult.

Synchronous chats can be especially difficult to arrange if students are spread over a wide geographic terrain, i.e. our upcoming Breeze session. Furthermore synchronous sessions must deal with the material at the most basic level to accomodate beginning students. This is extremely frustrating for learners with some background. The tendency to withdraw and not comment also becomes an issue, much as it could in a F2F class. Asynchronous tools are more immediate for each individual but there may often be a lag in responses from all students, particularly when using an e-mail based communication system. All of these drawbacks lead to what seems to almost be inevitable, some form of gap in communication or misunderstanding that takes valuable time and energy to resolve.

Perhaps on reflection I am the student who needs to control my own learning experience. It is not that I can't work as part of a team for I have been the team leader for an 8th grade team for the last 5 years. I think it is rather the idea of being evaluated based on someone else's performance that I cannot control. This is the reason I am fervently against merit pay for teachers based on student performance. Teachers of honors classes will always have higher scoring students than those who teach ESL or special education students and so teachers cannot control the performance outcome of their students. I really hated F2F classes that required working in collaborative groups. The online environment has been somewhat better but even here there are many frustrations. Often instructions leave job assignments within the group to the group itself. Without the benefit of F2F visual cues and ice breaking activities to develop a level of trust, this can be difficult. Furthermore, one student often jumps ahead, perhaps due to a difference in time zones, and posts materials while there is always one trying to catch up. And again maybe it is me but I have generally found males to be less supportive of the group process itself. So I think that I really would have to question how much collaboration should be included in online class design and how formal or informal an assessment I'd use for evaluation. The class activities have to address a variety of learning styles and allow options for each type of student to shine in her/his performance.