Online Small Group Collaboration Study Receives Best Paper Award

By Wendy Chan on June 2, 2014

A study that explores how to effectively monitor and evaluate small group collaboration in online courses was presented with the Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology (CJLT) 2013 best paper award on May 15, 2014 at the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education (CNIE) Conference at Thompson Rivers University.

Namsook Jahng

Namsook Jahng

The paper, “Collaboration indices for monitoring potential problems in online small groups,” is authored by Namsook Jahng, an Instructional Designer and Project Manager at the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT). The study analyzed messages exchanged between twenty-four students in a graduate online course run through the WebCT Vista course management system.

Namsook first became interested in exploring group collaboration during her Master’s degree. As a Teaching Assistant, she noticed there were often huge gaps in the quality of work produced between groups. As a student herself, she was at times frustrated with group work. “It is not just about the outcome,” Namsook states. The final product or grade does not necessarily represent superior group collaboration. Rather, she stresses that, “The process is important – how does a group work together?” Since instructors are often unaware of what occurs during the group work process, Namsook hoped to find a method that would help instructors identify groups that may have potential collaboration issues.

The study, which was part of Namsook’s PhD dissertation, measured collaboration through three important quantitative indices: quantity, equality, and shareness. Quantity examines how actively the group interacts through measuring the total number of words they exchange. Equality looks at participation variability and whether certain members dominate communication. The final index, shareness, explores whether the group creates an inclusive team environment through engaging all members in communication.

After coding data for these three quantitative indices, Namsook performed a qualitative analysis to find factors that may have influenced collaboration. She also looked at group membership trends by comparing the relationship between group members in the whole class discussion before, during, and after their small group activity.

The study found that the quantitative results were consistent with the qualitative assessment and group membership trends. While all three indices are independent of each other, the study concluded that good collaboration occurs when communication has no issues across any of the indices.

Having found that the indices are valid evaluation methods, Namsook aims to develop new tools that will help instructors create better groupings, monitor collaboration processes, and assess group work quality. Namsook states that it is now important to turn theory into practice to concretely improve the quality of teaching and learning. As more group activities are being employed online and in blended learning courses, this will be an important area to continue exploring.

For more information about group collaboration, please find below a list of Namsook’s publications:

The CTLT is located on the ancestral and unceded territory of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ - speaking xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) peoples. These lands have long been a place of learning for Musqueam, with cultural and traditional knowledge passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years.