Problems in Collaborative Online Learning

Traditionally students have been attending class physically by going into a classroom and seeing their instructor and their classmates. More than likely after the first meeting (after the anxiety of the first day), the student may feel comfortable settling in each week sitting in at the same desk, communicating with classmates in close proximity and based on personality, interacting with the instructor and classmates during discussions. The advent of distributed learning, especially how it was set up in the Harvard study, the only opportunity the “new” learner has to create a level of comfort and readiness is during the first class session.

Listed below is an incomplete list of problems or possible disadvantages of collaborative online learning that came to mind while reading the study:

- the learner’s inexperience with computer technology
- the learner becoming their own project manager, being responsible and adhering to not only assignment deadlines, but personal deadline in order to be prepared for and complete online activities (learner procrastination)
- building peer to peer relationships with classmates
- creating strong team environments, dealing with teams in which one student may not be as prepared or able to pull his weight in the group
- collaborative learning is a challenge to a person who is shy and introverted and or intimidated by technology
- communicating online in a synchronous environment can be difficult if you are a person who only has access to dial-up or are a slow typist and/or a person who is slow to gather thoughts together
- in an asynchronous learning environment posting late to a threaded discussion can create several anxieties such as being overwhelmed by the discusses and getting flustered to make a point, noticing that the point was made that the learner thought of, “competing” with a peer trying to “out discuss” the discussion, and wondering if your thoughts offers some validity to the questions

As I mentioned this list just highlights some of what jumped out at me. Overcoming many of these problems may just happen with time. As we are moving into a technology focused environment, the use of computers in everyday life is becoming the norm. In professional environments, colleagues are communicating with the person sitting next to them via e-mail or instant messenger. Teenagers and young adult are sending text messages almost as fast as they would if it were a live conversation. Young children are being exposed to computers as young as preschool. So times are changing. I do believe that once someone is placed into an online environment today, they either sink or swim. More so than not I believe the shy introverted person will adapt to this learning environment. But the instructor should also be aware of the patterns created by such students like lack of involvement during discussions and coach that student offline. Hopefully this could be a way to build up the confidence of the learner.

Another issue was the use of videoconferencing technologies. In the study, that technology did not go over well. Before reading further, I reflected on personal knowledge of the role videoconferencing plays in learning. It is a tough medium to gain audience attention. The attention should be given to the lecturer, since he is the source of information to be gained by the learner. The lecturer has to understand his role and decide whether he only wants active listeners or generate feedback and dialogue. In my personal opinion dealing with this technology in my work environment, I believe that videoconferencing will slowly become extinct, mainly based on what I just mentioned but also because the technology is evolving and web conferencing is becoming a preferred medium for many reasons, cost being one of them. A web conferencing environment can be multi tiered and foster not only the dissemination of information that you can get from a videoconference, but web conferencing environments allow for synchronous video-based discussion (as in videoconferencing), synchronous online chats, use of presentation materials, live desktop sharing and more, plus the session can be archived for later use.