Abstract:

Effective teamwork (also referred to as group work) and collaborative skills are recognised as being central to the active learning process in tertiary education. Communication, delegation and analytical skills, learned when students engage in active learning, are key proficiencies that an employer looks for in a third level graduate. Research suggests that increasingly, students are engaging in virtual communication when they are given teamwork assignments. Social and communication technologies used by students to support their learning now add to the complexity of teamwork. These technologies are now recognised tools of communication with students showing a preference for technology driven communication over traditional methods (McKinney and Sen, 2016). Spatar et al. (2015) found that often group work is now separated in process and product. In this context, the objective of this study is to examine the multifaceted challenges posed by the existence of virtual communication and furthermore to examine the level of active or real learning that occurs when virtual communication is dominant.

Focus groups were conducted with a cohort of students from one department in one Higher Education institution. The empirical data generated from these focus groups suggests that the increased use of technology by students, specifically communication technology, results in very little active/real learning taking place. The findings indicate that most, if not all team communication is conducted on social media platforms. This means very limited face to face team communication, with most if not all communication taking place virtually. The result of this is a very different student experience to one where face to face team meetings and communication take place. It is evident from the research, that in a virtual setting, team projects are being completed, without students gaining experience and skill in the areas of delegation, communication, listening, and conflict management.

In light of this, and to safeguard teamwork as a fair and effective method of assessment for students, educators must revaluate the design, monitoring and assessment of teamwork. To ensure that the key skills acquired via teamwork in more traditional settings are also attained in a virtual setting, new systems and structures need to be considered.

References:
[1] McKinney, P.A. & Sen, B.A. (2016) The use of technology in group-work: A situational analysis of students’ reflective writing. Education for Information, 32 (4). pp. 375-396.
[2] Spatar, C., Penna, N., Mills, H., Kutija, V. & Cooke, M. (2015) A robust approach for mapping group marks to individual marks using peer assessment, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 40:3, 371-389.

Keywords:

Teamwork, Virtual Communication.