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I have attempted to do group projects in my live lesson room. I put my students in groups and had them create similar figures and write a story to go along with their similar figures. The challenge that I faced is that the project took several class periods to complete and the students do not come to every live lesson. On the first day I had a good sized group of students but on day 2 I had some groups where only 1 person showed up. The uncertainty of who is going to be in class made it difficult to get the students to complete the project. It was also difficult to keep up with who was in what group and who was participating.

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I love the idea of group projects because you get to share ideas.  I love getting feedback from others and hearing interesting view points.  However, as a student, I ended up covering the work of my group members.  I refused to get a low grade on a project because someone else didn't have the time or energy to put forth full effort.  This taught early on to take charge from the beginning.  As a teacher, I witnessed this same issue with my students.  By the time my students reached my course, the ones like me were already asking if they could complete the activity on their own.

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In the virtual setting there are many benefits however for me being new to the virtual setting I have experienced frustration with trying to engage my students to break material down into manageable parts. Many times my students do not participate in Live Lesson and even small group sessions. In the virtual setting I can not ensure that my students take advantage of of the modifications that I provide. I can give them and show them but I am not with them to make sure that they are carried out. This has proven to be my greatest frustration.

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The toughest collaborative projects I have worked on always seem to have a few things in common.  If the deadline for producing a viable result isn't clear, the project loses steam.  If there is not a clear accounting of responsibilities in the group, then we'll be tossing tasks back and forth until they stick to someone.  I once suggested posting a glossary on the wall in a conference room so that we could agree ahead of time on what "finished" meant.
Collaborations stand or fall on the ability of a group to speak to each other.  Any success we can muster depends on conversations: agreeing on a deadline, agreeing on the result of the collaboration, agreeing on what roles must be filled and what words we will use in the very conversations that define the project.
Working in an online environment has added to the challenge. No one can see you shaking your head or rolling your eyes.  I have had to focus on being certain that I understand what we're talking about in Lync chats and emails between team members. I have even borrowed from my students and included emoticons in an adult conversation. Almost everything I do in my working day is a collaboration on some level and I try to use all the communication tools I have to convey my gratitude for the tie and effort that involves. :)

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I love to collaborate and work as a group to do what is best for my students. I learned quickly as Cindy was talking about that not everyone is willing to accept the positive contributions of their team members. A change in one team member can make all the difference. My team last year worked well together. We knew what needed to be done and we did it. This year is a little different. We know what needs to be done but it is hard to complete any project when you have people who want to offer problems and no solutions without any other considerations. As far as using group projects in my live lessons. You never have 100% participation. You can get a few kids to work together. When I do Jeopardy reviews, I put the kids in teams. They like that but again, you always have one or two kids contributing most of the answers.

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From experience with group  projects with students. I seem to always run into students who want to sit back and allow others to do all the work. So I have to come up with assigned duties and responsibilities.  I create a chart that  the students can follow and if  but any  part is missing it is clearly identified. Usually  this will lead to the group working together to complete the project.  I am there encouraging the students to achieve the best grade possible.

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I have participated in a number of group/collaborative projects in online classes. The role I play varies with the capacity of the group. I tend not to try and drive the train. (Not an "Alpha" like Nathan, but if there isn't one in the group I will step up.)

Social loafing has been a factor in almost all of my online groups, but none of the projects were structured in a way that really required 100% commitment from all members in order to complete the task without overwhelming a small group that was shouldering most of the work.

When facilitating group projects I found it was important to clarify the project objectives. Like Charlotte if rely on Rubrics to set the criteria the group would be evaluated on.  I also clearly outlined the peer/teacher performance review at the end of the project. The project earned a scored as determined by the rubric. Team members would evaluate each other in terms of their relative contribution. Average contributors earned the project score. Above average contributors earned a higher score and below average earned a lower score.

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Collaboration is always difficult in LiveLessons because students don't want to talk or stand out.  The breakout rooms have helped but my biggest struggle is still getting them to work together rather than one student doing all of the work.

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I agree with many of you, especially Charlotte and Steven. In our virtual setting we usually use what is called Breakout Rooms, where students are grouped and can participate in collaborative group work. I can anonymously monitor what students are doing in the room but it can become tedious and often disruptive if I have to keep popping into each room and encouraging students to participate. Another issue I face is getting students to stay on task. Many of them are so excited to be chatting with peers that they tend to get off topic trying to catch up; which causes them to run out of time.

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My experiences have led me down many paths. Each time I experience a frustration, I go into my toolbox to see how I can differentiate the project to engage each student.  It is difficult to personalize and differentiate in the small group environment.  After years of students playing the "wait game" (I'll play dumb until the project is 85% complete before I add my 2 cents), I had an epiphany.
The Rubric is our friend.  I created a rubric for each role.  Each member has a role.  The other team members must sign off on each rubric. The expectations are set and the students have choice.

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My biggest challenges when it comes to collaborative group projects with my students is grouping.  I've tried grouping students with similar abilities and mixing them up.  In the similar grouping, the students seem to work towards the average of the students with no real leader.  This has led to a process that stalls and doesn't really meet the potential that a collaborative project could garner.

Then by mixing up my students, I hoped that the higher achieving students would help pull the other group members to a higher level of product.  Unfortunately this has led to groups relying too much on one student.  I know that there are benefits to collaborative and keeping a project personalized.

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My experiences with collaborative projects have usually left me intentionally or unintentionally playing to that "alpha" posture. I very much value collaboration of ideas, which is something that is a big part of my podcasting hobby as well, but I tend to be the person saying "oh, we're dallying because the group can't make a decision . . . heck with it, I'll make the decision." This would also immediately put the burden on me (at least in the eyes of other group members) as the one who would need to coordinate everyone else or do the lion's share of the work. A drive to be productive would result in uneven top-down collaboration instead of an even level of participation all around.

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At GACA we offer G-Labs. These are grade appropriate labs that present a specific topic or idea in a face to face environment with our students.

My grade level works very well together when we plan these.  We have a mutual respect for each team member that allows us to collaborate in a positive manner.  However, I am currently working on a G-Lab that includes two other grades forming a K-2 band.

Another teacher on a different team is insistent that she plan and execute the lab as she has done this before.  Professionally, and personally, I don't always agree with her choices and decisions for the students.  She is reluctant to hear additional ideas. Thus, the rest of the "collaborative"  team gives into her.

I find this terribly frustrating as I want to be a team player.  This teacher has good ideas but the words collaborative and group project got lost somewhere.  I'm sorry if I sound whiney.

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One of my challenges as a teacher have been to make my lessons interesting and engaging for students, especially for those that had not interest in learning a second language or had been placed in my class, because there was no other option.

I always wanted my students to use their devices to create a skit or imovie, but I always seem to lack the time or perhaps did not give clear instructions.   It always turned out to be more of a discipline issue than the fun activity I had planned.

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AT GACA we use a tool, Issue Aware tickets to collaborate amongst teachers.  While it keeps all comments in one accessbile location, it is extremely difficult to retrieve information.   There's no easy way to search for or through the document.  Big pain!  I am anxious to find out more about what Google docs or Hangouts has to offer.

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My greatest challenge in both participating and facilitating a group project is building trust amongst group members and stopping free-loaders.

I was convinced that mixed ability groupings was the way forward but after a year of limited success and seeing just one or two members of each grouped working, I switched. Ever since, same ability groupings work much better for many reasons. Trust still remains an issue.