The use of technology in group-work: A situational analysis of students' reflective writing

Abstract

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Group Work and Distance Online Learning in Higher Education – Reflecting on the Covid-19 Experience in the Natural Sciences

“…This included delays of immediate responses when required. In a study done by McKinney and Sen (2016), similar findings were reported where groups used electronic devices (such as smart phones).…”

“…Success of group work, although empirically reported (Cartwright et al 2021;McKinney and Sen 2016), may not always be constant as contextual dynamics may differ. There is a difference between working in a group, i.e.…”

“…The group text transcripts provide evidence of this etiquette through greetings, for example, "good afternoon," through expression of gratitude, "thank you," and positive affirmation, "that's great." These social skills are also essential to professional teamwork (Govender and Pillay 2018;McKinney and Sen 2016;Rafferty 2013). This opposes the notion alluded to by Killen (2016) that online collaboration tasks should emphasise learning outcomes rather than the learning process.…”

“…Research has shown that engaging students in structured reflection has benefits such as helping group members to understand their own and group practices to improve their future interaction (Killen 2016;McKinney and Sen 2016). The student reflections in this study focused on three areas to improve collaboration within the context of distance online learning, namely, increasing the range of communication channels, not delaying in doing tasks, and division of tasks.…”

“…Group work should involve both meaningful interaction and successful task completion (Chiriac 2014). However, it can be difficult for students to work together in an academic context (Cartwright et al 2021;McKinney and Cook 2018;McKinney and Sen 2016), and group pedagogy may appear challenging to lecturers and students without much experience in distance online learning contexts. Even in face-to-face group work there are issues when working in a team.…”