Cooperative Learning in the online environment: Challenges and solutions

The growth of communication technologies, the expansion of the use of electronic devices and the widespread use of the Internet have affected various aspects of human life. Education, teaching and learning, which are an important aspect of people's lives and an unobtrusive discussion at various social levels, has been greatly influenced by these developments and has grown with the growth of technology. Despite extensive research on the benefits and potentials of Cooperative Learning, its implementation has remained challenging. In line with this research gap at the international and national levels, it seems that identifying solutions to implement this approach in the online environment is a basic necessity. This research gap led the researchers to study the challenges and strategies for implementing the Cooperative Learning approach in Iran with an emphasis on the field of educational management with a small sample. Therefore, the present study aimed to identify the challenges and strategies of Cooperative Learning in the online environment.

This research was based on a qualitative approach and was carried out using a descriptive phenomenology method. The field of research is the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of Tehran University and the participants were faculty members working in three groups related to the fields of educational sciences. Sampling method was purposeful and criteria-oriented by determining three criteria: 1. they have participated in cooperative research workshops or are familiar with this approach, 2. they have used this approach in their classroom in a practical way, however little and incompletely, 3. they have taught in both face-to-face and online environments. The sample consisted of 22 people. The data analysis was done with the Colaizzi’s method and the use of Atlas-ti qualitative analysis software. In order to further validate the findings of the research, five visiting professors of the university were also interviewed.

The data analysis was categorized in two dimensions: challenges and solutions to facilitate the cooperative learning process in the online environment. As for the challenges, four themes of facilities, environment, implementation and achievements and 22 sub-themes were identified and categorized; in the challenges related to the limitation of facilities, there were themes including the structural complexities of the electronic space, internet disorders, the online environment and the lack of a proper educational platform; in the challenges related to environmental restrictions, there were themes including the reduction of opportunities for face-to-face interaction, the impossibility of continuous monitoring; in the challenges related to implementation limitations, there were cases including insufficient technical skills, low media literacy, inability to enrich life skills training opportunities, limitation of opportunities for creativity, negative attitude towards the electronic space; Also there were issues related to collaborative group including different schedule of group members, misunderstanding in communication, participation, work report, lack of agreement among members regarding means of communication and difficulty in group decision-making; and in the challenges related to achievement limitations, some themes were identified including encouraging superficial learning, creating the background for the occurrence of physical problems, especially eye problems, and reducing enthusiasm in the classroom. With regard to the solutions to facilitate the cooperative learning process in the online environment, 8 themes including solutions related to the online class (including 7 sub-themes of quick response, inability to teach life skills, attendance and absence, establishing face-to-face communication, creating an atmosphere based on honesty weekly group and individual report and expression of feelings), strengthening internet and broadband infrastructure, easy access of professors and students to the internet, holding online classes in times of low network traffic, using various platforms for learning, teaching how to use technical tools to professors and students, using teaching assistant, use of new technologies for learning were identified and classified.

The results indicated that this approach in classrooms, especially in online classrooms, is not only incompletely and very little implemented, but its implementation is facing a wide range of challenges. Considering the strong theoretical support of cooperative learning, its limited implementation in Iran and the identified challenges are thought-provoking and worthy of further investigation. It is clear that most of the identified challenges are not related to the nature and capacities of electronic platforms and are mainly caused by reasons such as incomplete implementation and the inability to act effectively in online environments. It is suggested that in curriculum planning, a special position should be given to wide culturalization regarding the benefits and advantages, disadvantages and threats of cooperative learning in general and online cooperative learning in particular at the level of schools and universities and among managers and students, and especially, teachers and professors.