4. Online group work
At university, it is likely that you will have to complete group assignments and projects. It can help you develop effective communication and leadership skills to prepare for the workplace. It is common in the workplace to work in teams with colleagues to complete tasks or projects. However, it can be particularly frustrating at university because you have the added pressure of having your project marked, plus other courses to complete. Online collaboration tools and techniques can make it easier for you to work with your group.
Remember that you must maintain the highest standards of academic integrity in your work.
Your group will be able to collaborate online effectively if you use some key strategies.
- Set up guidelines for group members
- Strategies to prevent issues
- Get the most out of meetings
- Collaborate on a document
- Maintain your privacy
- Online peer assessment
Set up guidelines for group members
Set up a group charter (YouTube, 1m11s) presents some basic guidelines for collaborating online with your group:
Use this example group charter (PDF, 117KB) to set up guidelines for your group.
Strategies to prevent issues
When collaborating with others online, you may run into issues (e.g. team members not replying in a timely manner). However, there are many ways that this can be prevented. Ensure that you and your team:
- Communicate regularly. Everyone should make a commitment to regularly check their messages. If possible, select a messaging platform (i.e. Facebook Messenger) where team members can be easily notified through their phone or other devices that they use regularly (check some recommended collaboration tools in section 2). When the team has an assessment due, you may need to check your messages more frequently, in case your team members have last minute questions or concerns.
- Plan regular online meetings. Use a poll tool (e.g. Doodle poll, When2Meet) if you are messaging back and forth too much trying to decide on dates and times to suit everyone.
- End all communication with clearly defined next steps so all group members know what is expected of them.
- Use an online brainstorming and voting tool (e.g. Tricider) if group members can’t agree on something. There are options that allow for anonymity if you feel that others don’t want to disagree with a dominant group member.
Get the most out of meetings
Think about the last time you had an online meeting or video call. Were there issues? What could you have done differently to improve the meeting? Online meetings don’t have to be awkward! These are some ways you can ensure that your team makes the most of the meetings.
- Prepare your equipment — you will need a computer with a reliable internet/wifi connection; headphones and a microphone (depending on your location or environment); and a quiet space.
- Send a meeting invitation in advance with a link to join the meeting.
- Set up 10 minutes or so before the start time — open any web pages or documents you will need during the session. If you share your screen, close anything you don’t want anyone else to see (e.g. switch off notifications that you don’t want others to see).
- Ensure you or the group prepare a simple agenda, so you know exactly what you need to discuss. This also helps you to check that the meeting has a real purpose.
- Keep it positive and follow the online etiquette recommendations. Ask questions directly to each member if you feel they are not getting a chance to speak up.
- Share a summary of the meeting and the agreed actions with the group so everyone will know what is expected from them next.
Collaborate on a document
When collaborating on a document, use an online tool that:
- stores your document in a shared drive that all group members can access
- allows group members to write and edit at the same time
- shows the version history and allows you to revert to a previous version if needed
- can be downloaded as a Word document, PDF or other file type.
The Collaboration tools section gives examples of useful tools for creating collaborative documents.
Maintain your privacy
Maintaining your privacy can be a concern when you are using social media or online tools for collaboration. You may want to keep your personal identity separate from your university or professional life. There are other communication tools aside from social media that you can use. Find out more in the Collaboration Tools section.
Our module on Digital security looks further into online privacy issues.
Online peer assessment
Evaluating each member’s work ethic and their contribution to the team is an effective way to ensure that each member is contributing equally to the team in the online environment. Conducting a peer assessment several times throughout the project is an important practice as it can often flag any team imbalances or issues. Doing a peer assessment may be a compulsory part of a university assignment for group work.
Evaluation criteria
This is an example of evaluation criteria that your team can complete when working online.
| Criteria | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engagement | Member did not engage in the group project or was often working on unrelated material. | Member partially participated in the group project. | Member was fully engaged in the group project/work. |
| Quality of Work | Member did not produce any of the work required for the project. | Member produced work but it was to an insufficient/unpassable standard. | Member produced work to a standard that was sufficient for the project. |
| Cooperation | Member did not cooperate with the team. | Member occasionally cooperated with other team members. | Member fully cooperated with other members and actively encouraged other members to do the same. |
| Listening | Member did not listen and often dismissed other team members’ ideas. | Member partially listened to other members’ ideas but often thought their own ideas were more important. | Member fully listened to other members’ ideas. |
Using the Peer assessment for online group projects (DOCX, 24 KB), you can assess your peers from a scale of 1 to 3 for each criterion.
