The Advantages and Challenges of Group Work in Online Learning Environments

Computer-based learning environments have had a considerable development in higher education aswell as organizational and industrial settings because of the increased accessibility to computers andthe internet. Moreover, educational experts and researchers are paying more attention to theimportance of human interaction in the learning process. One of the key factors in the success ofonline learning environments is providing facilities for increased group work and learner cooperation.Group work and effective cooperation in online environments enables learners to be actively involvedin learning and therefore, test their knowledge in a social structure and develop new ideas andsolutions with the help of their peers. Computer-based group work is an educational approach thatcombines online technologies with human interactions. In this article, we will initially definecomputer-based learning groups and explain the fundamental differences between learning groups andwork groups. Then, the advantages and challenges of group work in online learning environments willbe assessed.