COLLABORATIVE GROUP WORK IN AN ONLINE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: A DESIGN RESEARCH STUDY by EUNJUNG OH (Under the Direction of Thomas C. Reeves) ABSTRACT This dissertation focused on improving the design of online learning environments for adult learners who need and want to continue their professional development. For such a design effort to be successful, two pedagogical approaches were assumed to be especially important in enhancing online learning environments: collaborative learning and authentic tasks. Group work connects both approaches and offers great potential for learners to achieve their goals. For adult learners, group work is fundamental to an effective and meaningful learning experience because students must discuss concepts and processes as well as enact these ideas to produce a real life outcome they are likely to perform in their lives. However, the literature also addresses challenges for online learners working together to achieve common goals. Previous research emphasizes the importance of careful design for online courses employing group work. An education design research methodology was used to explore how to optimize adult learners’ collaborative group work in a graduate level online E-Learning Evaluation course. This two-year design research encompassed three iterative cycles of design, implementation and testing, and redesign. Data were collected from 23 graduate students and one instructor. Findings include the challenges the online groups encountered, attributes of groups working-well together and not working-well together, and the kinds of support learners needed during the group work process. Design research pursues dual goals in practice and theory. Accordingly, course components were refined to optimize students’ online group work experience, while at the same time, design principles were generated that can be used to support online collaborative group work in this E-learning Evaluation course, as well be applicable in other higher education online evaluation courses or courses employing collaborative group work and authentic learning tasks as their primary pedagogy. Seven design principles and 30 associated design/implementation strategies were generated and refined via three iterative cycles. These design principles to optimize group work include guidance on the following: communication, the learning community, technology, the group work process, positive interdependence, individual accountability and engagement, and individual learning. INDEX WORDS: Online learning environment, Collaborative group work, Teaching evaluation, Authentic learning tasks, Educational design research COLLABORATIVE GROUP WORK IN AN ONLINE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: A DESIGN RESEARCH STUDY by EUNJUNG OH B.A., Ewha Womans University, Republic of Korea, 2001 M.S., Indiana University-Bloomington, 2003 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2011 © 2011 Eunjung Oh All Rights Reserved COLLABORATIVE GROUP WORK IN AN ONLINE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: A DESIGN RESEARCH STUDY by EUNJUNG OH Major Professor: Thomas C. Reeves Committee: Michael J. Hannafin Janette R. Hill Lorilee R. Sandmann Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2011 iv DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my heavenly father, God, who opened the door for me to the field of Educational Technology in 1997, who gave me a great desire to pursue graduate studies in this field when the only resource I had was the hope to do so, and who guided my every step with His fullness of blessings. The work is a dedication to His unchanging goodness and unfailing love that has made and will continue to make me who I am and who I will become. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the support and assistance of many people. First, my sincerest appreciation goes to my advisor, Dr. Thomas Reeves, for his vital support and wise mentoring throughout my doctoral studies. I would not have been able to come this far without him. I also thank him for being such an important role model as an educator and a scholar, and for so kindly and patiently guiding me every step of the way during my doctoral studies. I especially thank him for introducing me to educational design research and inspiriting me to have an aspiration to become a more socially responsible educational researcher, a direction that I will continue pursue throughout my career. I also would like to acknowledge the invaluable support and help I have received from my committee members, Drs. Michael Hannafin, Janette Hill, and Lorilee Sandmann. I appreciate their great interest in my research, their insightful comments and feedback on my ideas and writings, the fantastic opportunities and guidance they provided to assist me in building my career, and the many sincere letters they wrote in support of my efforts. I cannot possibly express sufficient appreciation to the research participants of my preliminary studies and this dissertation who were willing to give their time and share their thoughts with me. Their participation made this dissertation possible and helped me learn so much about online collaborative group work. I am also very grateful to Harriett Allison for her extraordinary work on reviewing this dissertation, as well as my writing throughout my doctoral program, and for her heartfelt friendship encouraging me during this journey. vi I would like to acknowledge all the excellent learning opportunities I have had in the Learning, Design, and Technology program. With the support and friendship of the members of this academic community, I was able to establish my scholarly credentials in a most enjoyable learning environment. I particularly appreciate Ms. Gretchen Thomas, my teaching supervisor, for her superior mentoring and kind encouragement for my teaching and career. My experience as a design researcher was made smoother and richer because of a wonderful collaborator and friend, Ying Liu, who worked with me in this dissertation project. I hope that we continue collaborating on many more projects. Before beginning the doctoral study, I had studied Educational Technology in two other programs, and those experiences certainly helped me establish my foundation. First, I would like to thank the professors in the Department of Educational Technology at Ewha Womans University where I first studied Educational Technology and dreamed about continuing to study in this field. I am particularly thankful for Drs. Youngjoo Joo, Myunghee Kang, and Jeasam Jung, who motivated me significantly, for their dedication to their students and the field, and for their continuous encouragement and support for the past 14 years. I also would like to acknowledge the professors in the Department of Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University-Bloomington. In particular, I deeply appreciate Dr. Curtis Bonk for the many valuable and inspiring resources he shared with me, for the many wonderful learning opportunities he gave me, and for the priceless mentoring and encouragement he has given me on my work since I met him in 2001. I cannot thank enough John and Cindy Gaultneys, and the members of the Athens Link Fellowship who made Athens, Georgia, my second home. I am truly grateful for their sincere prayers and heartfelt encouragement for my studies and career. The love and care that I received vii from this community will be in my heart forever. Also, I would like to give special thanks to the brothers and sisters of the Kwanglim Methodist Church, my home church in Seoul, Korea, for their sincere prayers and great care for my family and me through the years. I would also like to thank my friends in the United States and Korea who have always prayed for and encouraged me. Thinking of my family, I do not know where to begin. Without the sacrifice and love of my parents, Changsuk Oh & Kyunghee Lee, I could have not even embarked on this journey. They have always inspired me to take courageous steps and lifted my spirit with their loving encouragement. I am forever indebted to them for their immeasurable love, unchanging faith, and ceaseless prayers for me. I am also thankful to my parents-in-law, Jaekang Koo & Kyunghwa Choi, for their uplifting prayers and encouragement throughout this process. I am grateful that they loved me even more when I was weaker and experiencing difficult times. I am blessed to have my dear brother, Sanghun, brother-in-law, Seungwon, and sisters-in-law Jinyoung, Eunyoung, and Seungyoung, and I am thankful for the prayers and much joy they gave me. Lastly, but most importantly, there is my husband, David Seunghyun Koo, who has been the greatest blessing in my life. We have been through both dry and colorful seasons over the past several years in our lives together. In every season, he has been my strongest supporter as well as my academic partner. I am truly thankful that I have a husband who has been walking with me in the same direction as we are empowering each other in fulfilling our calling. I send him my deepest thanks that he always loves me as I am and has a greater belief in me than I do myself. viii Finally, I lift up my heart with greatest appreciation to the Almighty, my heavenly father, for all the blessings and abundant grace He has presented me with. Above all, I am thankful for the many wonderful things that he may bless me with in my future studies, career, and life. ix