Session 3 - Text 2 Reflection

Source of Reading:

Chiong, R., & Jovanovic, J. (2012). Collaborative Learning in Online Study Groups: An Evolutionary Game Theory Perspective. Journal of Information Technology Education, 11, 81-101.

Guiding questions:

What are the advantages and disadvantages of online collaboration in small groups for university students? Which new literacy skills become crucial for online communication and collaboration?

Nowadays, it is popular to have collaborative online learning in small study groups for benefiting the students in developing critical thinking, problem solving, self-reflecting and co-construction of knowledge and meanings. Small groups are better for discussion and share the group work evenly. It shows that small groups have better learning experiences and results. However, the students are resisted to participate actively with concerns on the control and quality of the group output and lack of among members hindering the effectiveness of online learning.

Advantages

The advantages for online learning include seek support and help from peers; allow networking; develop commitment and responsibility towards other group members, strive to work better in the social comparison and competition, prepare for team-based work in future workplace; social learning through discussion, sharing ideas, knowledge, and concerns; accept different point of views and how to handle conflict. The most important gain from online learning groups is to learn through communication and knowledge exchange from their peers. Students can identify and correct misconceptions quicker so to improve the understanding of the topics in a group rather than on their own.

Disadvantages

While there are disadvantages such as low participation of group members and even no contribution to the group work; differences or gaps in the skills and knowledge level of members, delays in communication as no face-to-face direct communication or have time constraints in members’ personal or work life; also align to use the same social channel requires additional time if not familiar with the application. These factors hinder the effectiveness of online collaboration and communication among members.

New literacy skills Digital and social literacies are essential for successful online learning and communication. Some of the skills are listed below. 1. Digital literacy skills:

• Be adaptive when interacting and communicating through different digital technologies or platform or tools

• Be able to critically evaluate the online information obtained or shared by group members

• Be able to communicate and produce output effectively through using digital technology

2. Social literacy skills (Netiquette):

• Have a good learning attitude to commit in all the learning activities for knowledge exchange

• Respects and understanding other points of view/ think from other people’ perspectives

Personal experience

My experience for group projects of my MLIM studies are good. Especially for part-time students, there is no free riders as most teammates are eager to learn and improve in the professional work during leisure time. You can learn from other students in a diverse background in the previous bachelor studies. Also using the technology are convenience to work on share documents at your own time and flexible to connect to your team members via instant messaging or video conferencing. With good literacy skills, we all can master our learning effectively.