9AK #6: Evidence gathering: Online group collaboration

While we were in lockdown, I wanted to see if groups could still collaborate online to complete tasks set for them.  I noticed that one particular group, Team 'I.S' crew, were finding it difficult to get all members of their group to contribute to group discussions.  I had observed this before lockdown in the classroom as well as at the start of our lockdown during our online hangouts.

On the 4th of May, I set the groups a group task and let the groups know that I would be recording them to make sure I can see how to help them better.  Here is a blogpost about the lesson.

For the Team 'I.S' crew, I paid particular attention to them because I could see that although they had 4 members of their team online, only 2 of them were regularly contributing.  

Here is the video and transcript.

When I reviewed the video, I noticed that at the start of the groups discussion, most members of the group were contributing.  But when one of the students felt like he wasn't being heard or that his point was being questioned, he seemed to distance himself then no longer contributed.  It was then left to two of the members to complete the tasks which they didn't get to do.  I joined the hangout at the end and I could see that they had struggled to complete the tasks set.  In fact, they were way behind the other groups.

After transcribing my feedback to the group, there were a number of things that I noticed that I'd said when one of the students had asked for my help:

I praised the group for doing what they could

I explained why I thought they were finding it difficult to complete

I relayed that I thought they're discussions were good even when I'd only heard a minute of their discussions.

I didn't actually listen to why they were having issues, I just tried to solve it.  

On reflection, I wondered about the way I responded to the group.  I was conscious of the time and having 5 groups all wanting my attention made it hard for me to listen to understand and I basically listened to respond.  I wonder if by having a number of key prompting questions, I could apply more of a deep dive into finding out what the real issue was.  I also hope to teach the students how to feel more confident in contributing to their group discussions.