Instructional Strategies for Forming Online Collaborative Teams
The purpose of the study was to explore students’ collaboration experiences with and perceptions of a purposeful group assignment and team-building process in an online graduate class and gain a better understanding of effective grouping strategies in online environments. Students in an online graduate class were assigned to teams based on a purposeful group assignment strategy, and then several team-building activities were used to maintain the collaborative learning. Outcomes of this study demonstrate that students preferred like-minded team members because having similar study habits naturally facilitated collaboration, and having similar study habits appeared to increase the level of satisfaction with the group work. It was found that although an online environment has been designed using collaborative group strategies, it may not be realistic to count on these strategies alone. It is necessary to pay close attention to other factors that influence the course in general and specifically the instructional design to support collaboration.
