Wisdom from Groups

Project leader(s): Simon Bell
Theme: Supporting students
Faculty: STEM
Status: Archived
Dates: October 2017 to March 2019

The project themes can be set out in short hand as follows: Online group work. How we get better at it, the need to do more, providing students with experience, innovation in method and reaching out by means of a story set out in a graphic novel.

The question which this project existed to address was ‘how do we get better at collaborative, online group work?’. The basis for this question resides in the need for the Open University to provide teaching which allows students to experience and become more proficient at online group work. This is - a work-reality for numerous professions and collaboration is a necessary skill set in many professional competency frameworks. The key innovation contained in this eSTEeM project related to the medium for, and the manner of, communicating teaching. This project was all about reaching out to students via the means of a story about collaborating in online groups presented in a graphic novel. To achieve maximum outreach the project achieved co-funding by Open Media and Informal Learning (OMIL) and is available along with a variety of supplementary materials in its final form at: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/design-innovation/when-two-worlds-collide-achieving-wisdom-online-groups