Using Sequence Analysis to Characterize the Efficiency of Small Groups in Large Online Courses

Abstract

Small group collaboration can enrich the learning experience in large online courses in the interactional and social dimensions. The experience underlying this study stems from an inter-university online course with collaborative writing as a group task. Here, coordination between group members was supported through a discussion forum and collaborative writing was facilitated through a shared web-based editor. Actions in the forum and in the writing tool were categorized as coordination, monitoring, minor/major contribution. Pair-wise similarities between the corresponding action sequences were captured in a similarity matrix, which formed the basis for a cluster analysis. The clusters show specific patterns especially regarding the distribution of inactivity and coordination. Our findings show that inactivity can be counterbalanced by early coordination without rendering a group dysfunctional.