Background The ability to learn collaboratively and work in teams is an essential competency in both educational and healthcare settings, and collaborative student activities are acknowledged as being an important part of the pedagogical approach in higher education and teaching. The course that was the focus of this research, a 15-ECTS-credit online course in philosophy of science, ethics, and research methods, was offered online as part of 11 master’s-level health programmes at a university in Norway. Collaborative learning in combination with digital teaching tools was the preferred pedagogical approach in the online course. The aim of the study was to describe, explore and discuss how the students collaborated in small groups in an online course to learn. Methods We performed six focus groups and 13 individual interviews from February 2018 to May 2019, conducting a qualitative case study with a content analysis of the data collected. The participants were master students in the same faculty at a university in Norway. All the included participants had fulfilled the 15 ECTS credit course. Results Our study revealed that the collaboration in small groups resulted in three different working processes, depending on the students’ ability to be flexible and take responsibility for their own and common learning. The three different working processes that emerged from our data were 1. joint responsibility – flexible organization; 2. individual responsibility – flexible organization; and 3. individual responsibility – unorganized. None of the groups changed their working process during their course, even though some experienced their strategy as inadequate. Conclusions Our study showed that despite similar factors such as context, assignments and student autonomy, the students chose different collaboration strategies to accomplish the online course learning objectives. Each group chose their own working process, but only the strategy 1. joint responsibility – flexible organization seemed to promote collaboration, discussion, and team work to complete the complex assignments in the online course. The result from our study may be helpful in designing and planning future online courses; hence online learning requires a focus on how students collaborate and learn online, to gain knowledge and understanding through group discussion.

This chapter provides information for teachers in higher education who are interested in collaborative learning combined with the use of immersive virtual reality (VR). It presents an introduction to VR and experiences from implementing and using VR in training midwifery students on the master’s level and radiography students in anatomy on the bachelor’s level.

Background: The ability to learn collaboratively and work in teams is an essential competency in both educational and healthcare settings, and collaborative student activities are acknowledged as being an important part of the pedagogical approach in higher education and teaching. The course that was the focus of this research, a 15-ECTS-credit online course in the philosophy of science and methods, was offered online as part of 11 master’s-level health programmes at a university in Norway. Collaborative learning in combination with digital teaching tools, was the preferred pedagogical approach in the online course. The aim of the study was to explore, describe and discuss factors influencing small group learning in this online course.Methods: We performed a qualitative case study, collecting data through both individual and focus group interviews between February 2018 and May 2019 of master’s-level students who had participated in the online course. We performed six focus-group and 13 individual interviews, and a total of 30 master’s students participated in the study. Data were analysed using content analysis.Results: The results showed that three different processes were used to facilitate completion of students’ course assignments and learning outcomes. These three working processes were not dynamic, with different groups changing working processes throughout the course, but static and constant. The names of the different working processes reflect the main characteristics of each one: 1. joint responsibility – flexible organization; 2. individual responsibility – flexible organization; and 3. individual responsibility – unorganized.Conclusions: Planning online learning requires a focus on how students collaborate and learn online, so that they can gain in-depth knowledge and understanding. This study shows that even if contextual factors are the same (e.g., group size, relevant assignments, and student autonomy in terms of group organization), the way in which students collaborate and work together differs. Although the identified working processes promoted collaboration and learning, the first process (joint responsibility, with flexible organization) was the only working process found to promote in-depth learning. Future online teaching might require an even stronger focus on students’ internal motivation for learning and the importance of teacher presence and teachers’ ability to facilitate online learning.