The last twelve months have seen a surge in online learning, as the Covid-19 pandemic has forced many schools and universities to close their premises to limit the spread of the virus. Research from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) provides some pointers on how collaborative online learning can be improved.

The research highlights a number of obstacles that can hamper online learning, including a lack of confidence in the technology among teachers and general resistance to collaborative learning among students.

The pandemic has shown, however, that not only are such methods increasingly important for our learning, but also when we enter an increasingly digital and remote workplace.

Better learning

As one of the pioneers in online learning in Spain, UOC has gleaned a lot of insights into the most effective way to deliver learning virtually.  They identify five key elements for making a course successful:

1. Student-focused activity – The first step is that the course has to be focused on the student and ensure that they have an active role in each of the phases.  This tends to ensure that students are free to experiment and learn for themselves.
2. Structured in phases – Ensuring courses are structured in phases helps to produce a high degree of cooperation between students throughout the course as tasks are linked with cooperative work.
3. A multi-format approach – The learning resources, which support the progress of the activities through the different phases, are designed to be consistent with the course skills and evolve to meet the students’ needs. The resources are in different formats (text, website, and video) to promote motivation and learning with different technological devices.
4. A 360 degree assessment – Rather than having one assessment at the end of the course, assessment is undertaken continuously and strongly linked to the group dynamic.  This includes individual assessment alongside group- and self-reflection.
5. A proactive tutor – The role of the teacher is crucial in online learning, both during the design of the activity and also during the continuous monitoring of group activities and assessment.

When these lessons were introduced into an ICT course at the university, 77.4% of students passed, which is over 10% higher than similar courses in the past.  What’s more, 90% of students said they have strongly developed online teamwork skills, which bodes well for their transition into the virtual workplace.

The researchers are confident that their findings can help to inform online training across a wide range of disciplines across higher education.

“This research can enrich any training action based on projects or complex activities, where the students have to acquire different abilities in an integrated way, especially cross-disciplinary and instrumental skills,” they conclude.