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Moving the Group Project to a Collaborative Project in a Remote Learning Environment
Posted by anne.grey | Start the discussion
Presented By: Michael Meagher, Health Studies Faculty.
Summary
This Anderson Conference session explores how traditional group projects can be redesigned as collaborative assignments that work well in a remote learning environment. Michael Meagher shares a model from his Health Studies courses that emphasizes clear structure, student choice, equitable participation, and alignment with course outcomes.
Meagher distinguishes a collaborative assignment from the group projects many students have experienced negatively. In his model, students work on the same topic alongside a team, but each student completes their own research and receives an individual grade. This structure allows students to benefit from collaboration without making their success dependent on whether every group member participates equally.
The session walks through the behind-the-scenes planning that supports the assignment. Students select preferred topics through a Google Form, and teams are created with student interests and communication styles in mind. Class time is intentionally reserved for collaborative work so students are not expected to coordinate additional meetings around different work, family, and school schedules. Each group also receives a shared Google document containing instructions, resources, timelines, peer-reviewed articles, and links to the tools they need.
Students research topics related to stress and health, respond to questions about a peer-reviewed article, create a slide to share their findings, participate in a collaborative sharing day, and complete a self-evaluation. Groups also choose a “something extra” component, which might include a video, interview, activity, or another way of exploring their topic.
Throughout the session, Meagher encourages faculty to begin with a course outcome, identify real or perceived barriers to collaboration, provide students with meaningful choices, and design the experience so students can succeed even when participation within a group varies. The goal is to create a collaborative experience that supports learning without repeating the frustrations often associated with traditional group projects.
Slides: Moving the Group Project to a Collaborative Project in a Remote Learning Environment
Presentation outcomes
- Distinguish between a traditional group project and a collaborative assignment designed around individual student success.
- Identify course outcomes that may work well with a collaborative learning activity.
- Explore strategies for organizing collaborative assignments in remote learning environments.
- Provide students with meaningful choices in topics, participation, and project components.
- Use designated class time, shared resources, and clear timelines to reduce barriers to group participation.
- Design collaborative work so one student’s grade is not dependent on another student’s participation.
- Consider behind-the-scenes preparation that can make collaborative assignments more equitable and positive for students.
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