Group work in distance education

[Moogie]

Out of curiosity, I would like to know how many other distance learners have a lot of group work in their programs. I'm doing an online graduate program through a traditional brick-and-mortar university and have group work in all of my classes; but I've done graduate courses in traditional classroom, on-campus settings that have had very little to no group work. I see definite advantages and disadvantages to the group approach and think that one of the challenges is that one must be creative in trying to coordinate group work because members just can't get together at the library and work on an assignment.

Again, it doesn't matter if you attend a traditional school with an online program or a completely online program like Phoenix, Walden or Excelsior---I am just curious about how your school handles group work in a distance education program.

ETA: I have posted something similar in the grad school forum but thought it good to post here as well since this is the distance ed discussion group.

Thanks in advance,

[caliotter3]

I remember reading a few posts from people who had a lot of group work in the University of Phoenix program. They complained about the process. Those posts stick out in my mind whenever I see anything about UP.

[MeganS]

Out of curiosity, I would like to know how many other distance learners have a lot of group work in their programs. I'm doing an online graduate program through a traditional brick-and-mortar university and have group work in all of my classes;quote]

Excellent question. When I was in a brick and mortor BSN program there were at least 1x group presentation each quarter as well as a min of 1x term paper. I got so tired of the group work as there was always 1 or 2 who did no work and slid thorugh on the backs of others. While the rationale is to foster teamship, etc., in my humble opinion, i actually does the opposite.

Looking forward to hearing from others on this..

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

No group work at Chamberlain! Fine by me ... that was the biggest complaint that my Clin Spec had about U of Phoenix -- she kept getting grouped in with slackers and was so frustrated! She ended up switching to Excelsior's RN-to-BSN instead, after she saw how well I did with the ADN program. :)

[Moogie]

Excellent question. When I was in a brick and mortor BSN program there were at least 1x group presentation each quarter as well as a min of 1x term paper. I got so tired of the group work as there was always 1 or 2 who did no work and slid thorugh on the backs of others. While the rationale is to foster teamship, etc., in my humble opinion, i actually does the opposite.

Looking forward to hearing from others on this..

What do you all think the optimal number of group activities in a semester should be? I have one class with one group and three group assignments---the group has remained the same throughout the semester and we are pretty cohesive and work well together. Another class had one large group in the beginning of the semester and four, maybe five smaller group assignments through the end of the semester (again, all the same group). Another class has one weekly all-class discussion, weekly small group papers (mostly the same students but a few weeks we add one new member for that week only), plus another group project (smaller group, bigger project) at the end of the semester. In only the second class do we have individual projects----everything else is group----wait---we do have weekly quizzes on the third class so that's individual work, too.

I feel most comfortable if I have a cohesive group with not too many members---five or six can be a lot but some groups have up to eight members---and if there's individual assignments along with the group assignments. I'm in grad program and understand completely that it's important to be able to collaborate with colleagues but one thing that makes me pause for thought is that our graduate projects (or theses) are supposed to be individual efforts or MAYBE done with one other person. So I am wondering---if there's so much emphasis on group work in the grad program itself, is it going to be difficult for some to change modes and work by themselves on the thesis or grad project?

I honestly feel a bit of group fatigue because I am in so many different groups, particularly in one class, that it is hard to keep them straight.

[caliotter3]

I had group work throughout my BSN program. Enough to sicken me of the process. There is nothing worse than to have your grade affected negatively by the slackers, unless someone does their work for them. As far as I'm concerned, at the grad level, it is time to acknowledge that people have done the group thing, and are now ready to proceed based on their own efforts. What you described, Moogie, made me nauseous just reading it. I see no advantages to group work at this level.