Patterns Team Pattern

How can students in networked learning programs engage successfully with one another?

1. Name:

Student Engagement in Networked Learning

2. Category:

This pattern is strategically pedagogical.

3. Abstract:

Students in networked learning programs must often engage successfully with one another in order to complete a project. Promoting feelings of openness and empathy in learners is imperative for there to be effective sharing of knowledge. The absence of longterm face-to-face interactions and the ability for more mature learners/instructors to overcome technical obstacles are also issues which must be addressed. This can be done by:

• having students participate in introductory ice-breakers where personal information and learning preferences can be expressed.

• providing students with a secure forum for information exchange.

• allowing students to choose their preferred learning tools when operating in a group outside of the regular class.

• having the instructor from groups based on individual strengths and experience.

• having the instructor gear academic support/intervention based on group need.

• providing students with non-graded opportunities to practice online skills.

• providing students with clear group project expectations and time-lines.

4. Problem:

Students in networked learning programs typically are called to rapidly engage with other students early in the class term, often from the very first session or even earlier. The term itself is short; about 15 weeks. These students usually will never have met each other in person; are using a variety of user interfaces and bandwidth speeds to communicate and learn over the Internet. They often are troubled by technical and connection problems, which distract from communication and learning. The curriculum around which they are called to engage has been pre-determined. Their successful engagement with one another generally affects substantially whether or not they receive a passing mark for the course. Often they may participate in graded group projects with one another. The instructor/tutors may or may not play a key role in enabling or encouraging the students to engage with one another.

These relationships will have the characteristics of openness, trust, a degree of vulnerability, sharing of ideas and feelings, sharing of tasks, encouragement of one another, swift collaborative decision-making, and empathy for one another’s life situations. At their best, these fast online relationships can yield an intellectual collaboration in which the group work is more than the sum of its parts, and serendipity shines amidst the development of joint intellectual capital. How can these students, who have no prior relationship with one another, most speedily and effectively develop these productive learning relationships with one another?

5. Analysis:

Psychologists and educational experts have long posited that in order to develop productive working relationships, trust between two or more individuals must be developed over a period of time through face-to-face interactions. "In the absence of this trust, learners will feel uncomfortable and constrained in posting their thoughts and comments."(Anderson, 2004) Traditional wisdom also calls for the facilitation of an expert teacher or group leader, to help develop group skills for learning together.

There’s also a widespread belief that the sense of community online is not always altruistic (Conrad 2002), that some people have ill will towards others and are out to defraud, cheat and mislead the people they meet online. Especially among older individuals, there is a fear of being too intimate online, with the feeling that one is too exposed, too vulnerable, and even open to physical harm from someone who may know your name and how to find you.

Networked learning students are often mature individuals who don’t have the facility with online chat and other novel forms of online communication that younger students have. Mature students in a networked learning environment are often led by mature instructors who likewise are just learning the ropes of online relationship building. Nonetheless, there is a real need to overcome these hurdles and develop effective learning relationships, quickly, as most courses are about 15 weeks long and group projects often start early in the course.

With the networked learning environment technologies in a constant state of change, technical hurdles exist and can impede group progress. This pattern considers the importance of preparing for online engagement when using new or newly upgraded tools.

Students approach the engagement with varying expectations. By sharing expectations at the outset of a group activity, the group can identify possible differences in expectations early on and avoid unnecessary conflict.

6. Known solutions:

The literature does not contain sufficient research at this point to yield “good practice” solutions to the problem. For this reason, our solution is drawn from our personal experiences in networked learning, and from theories of XXXX.

Preparation

Provide technical requirements and a site to test technology including self-paced tutorials for the participants to review prior to the first session. Technical support for the various technologies should also be made available ahead of time.

Introductions

Introductions are important in setting up a “safe container” in network learning environments because learners may come from different countries, cultures and industries; each bringing unique experiences to the group. The way that introductions are conducted creates a safe psychological container in which all future interpersonal transactions can occur. Have the students introduce themselves to each other by name, paying particular attention to each person’s written name exactly as he/she prefers, including nicknames of preference. Include in the introduction other basic information such as home town and province/state, or degree program. Photos are also a way of creating an instant connection between team members. Make sure that this early shared information does not allow any individual to easily physically locate another student. Have the students also share working preferences such as schedules, preferences for meeting times, preferences for ways of communicating and managing work, and personal interests specific to the project.

Privacy Issues

Provide a physically "safe container" which enables students to share without worry. It should be a private, secure venue in which each student may voluntarily share as much further information about themselves as they wish, such as a social networking site, a wiki, a blog, or an asynchronous chat. When the information has been edited to their own liking, they may elect to publish it to the other students, edit it, or delete it at any time. This information may be in a variety of formats, such as text, graphics, photos, podcasts or audio, etc. This information will always be password protected and open only to the instructor(s) and the students in this particular class. The students will have access to a privacy policy which details what will happen to their personal information after the class has ended, and which provides them with the opportunity to delete the information personally at that time if they wish.

Operating as a Group

Students can choose the tools and methods by which they operate in a group. Provide the students with opportunities to interact informally in asynchronous or synchronous chat or voice chat outside of regularly scheduled class activities. Based on instructor review of student’s personal information, assign each student to a small group of three to five individuals for group discussion and projects. Provide a rough guide for what characterizes a compatible group. Allow students the freedom to change groups easily for a specified time period. The instructor/tutor should be able to monitor the quantity and frequency of at least some of the students’ online interactions, and intervene to encourage students who are not participating. However, the instructor/tutor should not be able or permitted to “eavesdrop” on students’ online interactions, and the students should know this. Establish group structure at the beginning; or make rules and a timetable for this structure explicit to all group members. Where there is little time available to the group for discussion, and/or members of the group are inexperienced at holding online discussions, the teacher/facilitator should set the structure. Where the students are to set their own structure including roles and responsibilities, the teacher/facilitator should give them support and ideas about how to do this, and encourage them to do so in a fair and timely way.

Provide students with non-graded “practice” group activities and ice breakers. Provide clear guidelines for group projects, deadlines and grading rubrics. Structure each networked learning group project so that the work proceeds in phases; this way the instructor can see early in the lifecycle of the project if any group is not coalescing or able to make decisions effectively.

7. Research questions:

Questions which could be addressed through research include:

• How can the instructor best create a “safe container” – so that students feel able to safely share personal information and ideas in the media the instructor has chosen for the class?
• What is the optimal group size for online class projects?
• Are individual photos of participants, personal profiles, personal essays, etc. useful in establishing trust?
• Structuring the groups
• Decision-making among strangers
• Do relationships continue as a result of cohesive group work?
• Research settings and methods for above

8. Context:

The solution will be applicable to any type of networked learning which involves, at a minimum, more than one student and at least one instructor.

9. Conditions:

The factors that are critical to the success of this pattern are:

• an instructor or web resources would be required to provide guidelines to the groups for this pattern prior to beginning the group work
• an online learning venue that provides secure asynchronous or synchronous communication tools by which the group will connect and “meet” online to do the group work
• a privacy policy outlining use of personal information
• support for the group work in the form of a comprehensive description of the project expectations (deadlines and grading rubrics) and an instructor/mentor/coach who will answer any questions or handle any group difficulties that come up
• technical support for the tools used to ensure that all group members are able to work seamlessly in the online environment without being delayed or limited by technical difficulties

10. Discussion/consequences:

The consequences of using this pattern are positive:

• a group can come together and become cohesive quickly in a “safe learning container”, giving them more time to concentrate on the task at hand
• unified groups create quality outcomes in group projects
• an increased possibility of lasting relationships amongst team members

Other issues and considerations:

• when groups are not compatible, a change should be made before embarking on the group work if possible
• the instructor should step in when improper group behaviour is observed or reported by other team members

11.References:

Anderson, T. (2004). Teaching in an online learning context from Theory and Practice of Online Learning. Retrieved Nov. 15th, 2005 from http://cde.athabascau.ca/online_book/ch11.html

Conrad, D. (2002). Deep in the Hearts of Learners: insights into the nature of online community. Journal of Distance Education. Retrieved Nov. 15th, 2005 from: http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol17.1/conrad.html

12. Related patterns:

e-Len patterns:

• Forming Groups for Collaborative Learning

• Making Online Learners Trust Each Other

• Provide Personal Identity Information

• Support Identifiable Types of Communications

Peter Goodyear pattern:

• Discussion Groups

B. Fyvie et al. pattern:

• Planning Online Synchronous Activities

Author(s):

Joanna Wiebe

Kristine Thibeault

Barb Fyvie

Date:

November 15, 2005