Collaboration in Distance Education:

George Siemens (n.d.) argues that increased collaboration and communication are two elements that distance learning is utilizing to build a unique identity compared to face-to-face classes. While I agree that we often see increased communication in an online class—and there is much agreement on its importance—I'd on the other hand argue that by and large distance education has done a poor job of incorporating collaborative interaction into its educational experiences. I'd even go so far as to say that distance education has more obstacles to overcome than traditional classrooms when it comes to collaborative projects.

First off, consider some of the issues a teacher faces in setting up an collaborative project in an online class. Take a look at David Wetzel's solid post about some of the elements of online collaborative efforts, and you'll quickly see that setting up an online group project is every bit as complicated as that of a traditional classroom. However, in a traditional classroom, students generally show up, and if a student is present in class there are opportunities for both communication and collaboration. In an online platform, however, students can more easily vanish from group projects by not logging in or ignoring communication. When one considers that an online platform is more conducive to asynchronous learning, it makes it even more challenging to coordinate synchronous projects.

To give an idea of how young the concept of true collaboration is in online learning, I'd point you to this UMass Dartmouth blog post highlighting a online collaborative research effort between a professor and a student. The article in essence describes a collaborative writing project between a student and a professor. What strikes me as noteworthy is the fact that the organization thought that this was newsworthy event. If online collaboration were commonplace, this type of a story should be occurring every day throughout our educational institutions.

This doesn't mean that online collaboration can't happen, but it does mean that online programs have to be more aggressive in implementing collaborative tools like Google Docs for Education and in training teachers how to build and facilitate group meaningful group projects. If that happens, hopefully we'll begin to move towards a realization of the potential of online learning to facilitate true collaborative efforts.

References
Brady, J. (2010, December 16.) UMass Dartmouth online professor and student span distance for collaborative research success [Web log artilce]. Retrieved from: http://www.umassonlineblog.com/2010/12/16/umass-dartmouth-online-professor-and-student-span-distance-for-collaborative-research-success/

Siemens, G. (n.d.). The Future of Distance Education [vodcast]. Laureate Education. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4692780&Survey=1&47=6562140&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

Wetzel, D. (2010, December 17). Distance learning tips for online learning success [Web log article]. Retrieved from: http://www.suite101.com/content/distance-learning-tips-for-online-group-work-success-a322356