Online teaching and learning of groupwork skills through task group practice

Students joined online task groups to complete one assignment in a social work diversity class that aims at developing critical-thinking and groupwork skills. The researcher used a phenomenological perspective to analyze phenomena that occurred during the group development process. Fifty-six undergraduate students provided data regarding task-completion, interactions, and decision-making processes, as well as other factors that affected the outcome of the group process. The analysis revealed that students learned and put into practice critical thinking and groupwork skills used as they dealt with group phenomena such as group composition, setting up a contract and advantageous communication channels, and conflict management. The significance of this teaching model resides in its potential to enhance the effectiveness of online teaching using task group activities. Social work instructors, field liaisons, and supervisors who opt to use this teaching method, may deliver effective and efficient field supervision to a high number of students. Limitations reside in the qualitative nature of the collected data, as well as in the small sample size, which precludes the generalizability of the findings. Future work with quantitative methodologies will contribute to fill the current gap in the literature on online teaching of social work with groups.