Week 2 tasks

During weeks 2 and 3 you will be working in parallel on two types of tasks: some involving the whole group (plenary) and some in small groups.

Task A (plenary): Am I wearing any clothes?

Cartoon of naked speaker at lectern, with thought bubble: 'Oh no. I've forgotten my notes.', and watching audience.

Week 2 Discussion topic: Read Am I wearing any clothes? from the Week 2 Key Readings. How do the ideas and experiences discussed there correspond with your own experiences, either on this course or elsewhere?

Offer your thoughts and suggestions in the week 2 discussion thread called Am I wearing any clothes?

Respond to at least two other people's posts, offering feedback on their ideas and experiences.

Task B (small group): Promoting active engagement

This task will span two weeks and involve collaborative small group work for each of Weeks 2 and 3. The purpose of the task is two-fold:

The task is therefore in two parts. Details of Part 1 are posted below. Part 2 of this task (in Week 3) is dependent on the success of Part 1, since it will involve assessment of your contribution to Part 1. Further details of Part 2 of this task will be posted at the end of this week.

Task B, part 1: Collaborative writing

There is a paradox concerning the use of online discussions in Higher Education. Garrison (2003, p 48) argues that asynchronous online learning can enhance the quality of learning outcomes and environments, because:

At the core of the properties of asynchronous online learning is the ability to provide collaborative learning experiences at the convenience of the individual. That is, we can have both interaction and independence.

Yet, despite ubiquitous online communication by our students for social purposes (using Facebook, Twitter, etc), online communication and collaboration in academic contexts is problematic. For example:

In the surveys of courses making use of multiple features of the VLE, discussions frequently appear as the part which is least used and valued by students … and as being something that is difficult to engage undergraduate students with… Even in courses where discussion is well integrated into the course design, there are still reports of students having difficulties in making good use of both asynchronous and synchronous discussions (Sharpe, Benfield et al. 2006, p 63).

For the first part of this task, each group is asked to prepare a presentation which responds to this paradox. Specifically, prepare a presentation on the topic:

Measures for engaging students in online discussion

To make this task more interesting we ask you to create your presentation using Google Docs. This is an excellent collaborative writing tool, but you may find the Brookes Virtual course discussions are better for communicating as a group. One of the complexities of this task is that you will have to move backwards and forwards between Brookes Virtual course discussions (to communicate with each other) and the Google Doc where you will do your group writing.

Group organisation and process

Online groups may take a while to get organised. So we will organise a meeting of each group in our synchronous classroom environment to start the activity (Monday midday BST for Blue group, Monday 6pm BST for Red group). The purpose of this meeting will be to understand and scope out the task and allocate roles and responsibilities. After this first, tutor-moderated meeting, it will be up to the groups to organise further meetings if they wish.

Your group's discussions and working document will be open for the other group to view (although you will only be able to post to discussion topics in your own group). Indeed, your Google Docs, like the ones we used for icebreakers in week 1, are open to the world, so please bear that in mind as you collaborate.

When you are ready, please create a new top-level post in the week 2 discussion topic to invite the other group to view your finished product (if you take a peek at the other group's work before this, remember that it is work in progress).

Expectations for the outcome of task B, part 1

Your group presentation should:

Expectations for collaborative group work

In each group, individual group members should demonstrate:

Please note:

  1. A link to the group presentations will be made available to all participants at the start of Week 3 for all to see.
  2. Your group presentation will form the basis of the Week 3 group task and will be used by the other group for this purpose.
  3. You will be in one of two groups - Red with Liz, or Blue with Neil.
  4. Your group has a dedicated discussion topic in the Week 2 discussion area, named with your group's colour. Your tutor will monitor the discussion and provide support if required.
  5. Your group will have a tutor-moderated synchronous session on Monday of Week 2 to start the activity - you should hear by email from your tutor with more information about this.
  6. The readings Considerations in designing online collaborative tasks and Group roles in the Week 2 key readings should help to get you thinking about the sorts of things that you might need to address to complete your group task.

Task C: Reflections on week 2

By the end of the second week you will have had a chance to participate in the sometimes hectic and confusing negotiation of roles, responsibilities and targets that occurs in online group work.

To help you stand back and reflect on some of the issues that might have emerged for you from this experience, read Collaboration online or face-to-face: what's the difference? in the Week 2 key readings area.

During the Week 2 activities you should have discovered a little more about some of your fellow online participants. You are now in a position to be able to decide whether or not your group met the expectations for collaborative group work outlined in the description of Task 2. In particular, did you as an individual meet the expectations for collaborative group work? As you make notes about this week, think about whether, and if so how, you made an effective and useful contribution to the small group task this week. If you were to be assessed for your contribution to the group work, how well do you think you would have done?

You have been asked to experience online group work from the student perspective, and to think about issues that students may have to confront when they are asked to collaborate online. Are there any conclusions you would draw from this as an online tutor?

In the Week 2 Reflections discussion space, think about the personal notes you've made about the week 2 tasks, and share with us the discoveries that you've made so far.