Regina O. Smith

Working With Difference in Online Collaborative Groups

This qualitative cross-case study explored the experiences that learners describe within online collaborative groups. The study context was a fully online graduate course on adult learning. The findings suggest that the small online groups demonstrated dynamics and process that are characteristic of individual growth and development and group individuation, which mirror the experiences of face-to-face groups. The results of these two developmental processes led to unsafe learning spaces and opportunities for group members to rework their sense of identity as learners and group members. Implications are presented for the use of these kinds of groups in online educational settings.

The paradox of trust in online collaborative groups

Open and sustained discussions in heterogeneous collaborative online groups should provide opportunities for adults to reshape their thinking, deeply understand the subject content, and have their voices heard and respected. These opportunities turn on trust. The ability to trust thoughts that are different from their own is influenced by the learners’ ability to be open about their beliefs and to develop healthy self–other relationships within their small groups. These issues are examined through a qualitative phenomenographic perspective of the stories of the students enrolled in two online adult learning classes utilizing a problem‐based and collaborative pedagogy. The findings indicate that group members import trust issues into the group, which then become issues for the group‐as‐a‐whole. To resolve these issues, the groups engage in several evading behaviors to avoid the types of discussion necessary to fully deal with the difference and resolve the trust issues.

Epistemic Beliefs of Teachers in Technology-Rich Community College Technical Education Programs

Dramatic changes in the nature of work and its organization emphasize the need for workers to address complex and ill-structured problems and to produce knowledge useful in the workplace. Integrated use of computer-based technologies in education-for-work and workplace learning programs can address this need. Such potential, however, depends on the epistemic beliefs of teachers and trainers, as well as institutional and socio-cultural factors. The purpose of this study was to develop a better understanding of the epistemic beliefs of teachers in such programs. Our findings indicate that the teachers observed use technology largely to transmit content to their students and to control the overall delivery and pace of that transmission process. The constructivist promise inherent in computer technology was largely unrealized in the pedagogical and curricular practices observed.

The epistemic challenges, trust and the online collaborative group

The use of collaborative learning strategies continues to grow in online environments. The ability to collaborate may, therefore, present epistemic challenges for the students and hinder their capacity to trust their own and their fellow students’ ability to help them learn, and the capacity of the group (as a whole) to grow and develop. The purpose of this study is to: examine the students’ experiences in OCG groups to understand the ways trust issues manifest in the OCG; the ways these trust issues reflect epistemic challenges; and the strategies that the students use to resolve the trust issues. The study uses a phenomenographic approach, a qualitative interpretative research approach that seeks to illuminate people’s understandings and ideas about the world or their experiences of it. The data analysis revealed that trust—especially as it related to ability—was a persistent issue for the groups with regard to two epistemic challenges: trusting their own capacity to accomplish the task; and trusting the knowledge and skills of their peers.