Most of us agree that group projects online can build strong learning communities and promote collaboration and engagement. However, there are a couple of psychological principles that we should be aware of when we create such opportunities for our clients, customers, or students. Watch this 4 and a half minute video to find out about the dangers of social loafing in online group projects, and learn 3 strategies to avoid it.
Click the video below or this link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL6eWiTP_ys
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If you enjoyed this post you might also enjoy the following:
http://effectiveonlineteaching.org/2012/02/01/my-secret-recipe-for-team-building-online/
http://effectiveonlineteaching.org/2011/09/29/how-to-create-connection-in-distance-education/
http://effectiveonlineteaching.org/2011/10/06/how-to-create-connection-online-part-2/
Marina, as always, a fun and thought-provoking post on a real-world problem. I have encountered the “social loafer” phenomenon many times — both as an online learner and in my current role as an educational technologist. As an online student working in a group, I often assumed the “sucker” role, driven by a “type-A” refusal to receive less than a perfect grade. Ironically, I now advise learning groups that are comprised entirely of “type-A” personalities — bright, driven students in a high-ranked MBA program. For them, it’s not so much a question of who’s the loafer — but of who is the “alpha dog”.
I’ll be giving a presentation about Team Learning “in the Cloud” at this year’s Learning Solutions Conference — say “hello” if you’re attending! (Here’s a link: http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/lscon/concurrent-sessions/session-details.cfm?session=3506)
Thanks so much, Christopher! I hear you, as I am an A type personality myself:-)
I run into this issue frequently in Online courses where some graded assignments are completed by predetermined groups. First, I require each group to complete a team or group contract specifying their competencies, concerns, and working relationships. I let each student know that individual grades will be adjusted for group assignments based on two evaluative methods. One is my review of the group’s interactions in the online thread involved with the assignment. Second, I required each student to privately submit a peer evaluation report after each group assignment is completed. What is important to appreciate is the difference between cognitive learning and affective learning. Many of us know of people with deep skills (cognitive), but weaker interpersonal skills to persuade others (affective). Success in any organization requires development of both skills. Group assignments help develop the affective skills in students.
Nick,
This is incredible. Thank you so much for such a detailed post. I love how you cover both task visibility and distributive justice in your approach!
Thanks for this video tip, Marina. I especially liked the Seinfeld clip! And I appreciated your highlighting the need for distributive justice by having rewards for group projects allocated fairly.
Peer assessment can be another way to reduce social loafing. At Duquesne, for the last 7 years we’ve been running a multi-section masters capstone course in the summer that is teams-based. Each student participates on a small team that has specific deliverables as they experience an eight-week long simulation. Fully 20% of each student’s course grade is dependent on the assessment of their team mates. Students rate each other at the half-way point and also at the end. They receive a quantitative score as well as qualitative feedback comments from fellow students.
We developed our own in house, web-based data-collection interface, but this year we’re going to try a web site that has been developed by some online faculty at Purdue: catme.org. I have not myself yet used this site, but I have a faculty colleague who has. I understand you can use the evaluative criteria they provide, or you can customize to your own rubric. And it has some other cool features. Check it out!
Thanks, Jim! You strategies are very insightful and the catme.org site is just amazing! I am so glad someone thought of creating such a great interface for team work!
Simple solution: we use Google Docs with each member of the group working in a different coloured font. That gives us some check on the quantity of contributions, though admittedly not all tasks are text-oriented.
But, just as happens in business school, while the group shares the final mark there is an additional evaluation for each individual. These are created by the rest of the group, not the teacher.
Brad,
This is indeed a very simple solution that anyone can implement! Great suggestions. Thanks so much
Another way could be using wikis.Everyhing is registered
Thank you, Maria! Simple and brilliant at the same time!
It is amazing to me that there are so many ‘social loafers’ in online courses for adavaned degrees! The first time I took an online course for my MA program, I could tell immediately who the whiners and complainers where – after one “getting to know you” post! This is a common and real problem, and you do a nice job of explaining it and the issues around it. I like that you give us tools for minimizing this phenom! Thanks so much. -Leslie
Leslie,
I can totally relate. Especially online.. people think that since we do not see e/o that somehow we do not notice who is a social loafer and who is not! Glad to be of any help
Ahhh Yes! The Social loafers and the suckers…great topic! Every Master’s level class I had that was of a group dynamic had its fair share of loafers. It seemed as if one person would disappear for a entire week and leave the rest of us to do their work. I was a group leader once and gave a scathing rating to one person in particular and said I was giving them a 1 out of ten and the only reason they were even getting the 1 was because they turned SOMETHING in…LOL…brings back memories.
I had VERY similar experience, Robert! Thanks for sharing
I do not know whether it’s just me or if everyone else encountering issues with your site. It appears as though some of the written text within your posts are running off the screen. Can someone else please provide feedback and let me know if this is happening to them too? This might be a problem with my web browser because I’ve had this happen before.
Thank you
Nike, please tell me what you mean by words running off the screen