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Good point about the question getting buried. The tool does not allow for reorganizing either. Something to think about.

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Good point. Some students do enjoy a challenge. There's a balance that needs to be achieved in order to meet the needs of all students.
AS

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Pros- in smaller group, it encourages us to do more of thinking/research and responding to other person's post in confidence. In larger group, it is less likely one would respond to other students' posts. It gets overwhelming with reading many posts and wanting to write a post that reflects our thinking and not influenced by others' post.  

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Pros- in smaller group, it encourages us to do more of thinking/research and responding to other person's post in confidence. In larger group, it is less likely one would respond to other students' posts. It gets overwhelming with reading many posts and wanting to write a post that reflects our thinking and not influenced by others' post.  

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Ashley

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Pros – Open access to all group discussions allows students the opportunity to explore a wider range of perspectives in discussions across the entire class as opposed to groups of four to five learners.Cons – Given the increased volume of potential posts to review, it is possible a learner could be overwhelmed and slower to post within their own discussion groups if they felt compelled to read every single post.

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Pros – Open access to all group discussions allows students the opportunity to explore a wider range of perspectives in discussions across the entire class as opposed to groups of four to five learners.Cons – Given the increased volume of potential posts to review, it is possible a learner could be overwhelmed and slower to post within their own discussion groups if they felt compelled to read every single post.

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Chris

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Pro- I like that at first we were able to begin the class in our smaller groups. This gave us time to get to know a small portion of our classmates. It also allowed us to begin to form relationships with them. In addition working in small groups in quite similar to real life. Usually most organizations are split up into groups forming one large group. For example, one group might be focused on finances while the other group works in HRD. Con- The one thing that I noticed is that with smaller groups especially is that people all have times that they consistently post. One person may always get their initial posts in by Monday while someone else is always the last to post. It is just how they work the class into their schedule. But this means that usually the same people are replying to each other's post. I like how the posts are set up for this class. It allows us time to "break the ice" with a small group and also always us to get to know other students in our class. - Samantha

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I really enjoy the thought of discussing and learning from other groups. Initially, when we were all getting to know one another, it was a bit overwhelming with all the students but a bit more free, if you will. The smaller group discussions have served its purposes thus far as we have shared and learned from one another for the past few weeks but I would welcome the opportunity to work with others to gain more insight and perspectives.  I see Dr. Samuel's response and appreciate that too much change can be challenging, but I would offer, that some students need to be challenged and how do you meet those needs in an online setting?

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I really enjoy the thought of discussing and learning from other groups. Initially, when we were all getting to know one another, it was a bit overwhelming with all the students but a bit more free, if you will. The smaller group discussions have served its purposes thus far as we have shared and learned from one another for the past few weeks but I would welcome the opportunity to work with others to gain more insight and perspectives.  I see Dr. Samuel's response and appreciate that too much change can be challenging, but I would offer, that some students need to be challenged and how do you meet those needs in an online setting?

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Kim

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As I was reading through the comments left here, I actually didn't see the questions posted by Dr. Samuel until the very end.  (That might be a shortcoming of using this format.)  In regards to the question, I can see where having open groups encourages learners to seek different perspectives.  Depending on the topics, I wouldn't necessarily call "listening in" a form a cheating.  Finding out what others are doing may be helpful for some learners.  On the other hand, it may cause a learner to be less creative and, the more shy the learner, the more likely they are to do what everyone else is doing.  From my standpoint, I prefer closed groups as trying to read every post in every group is too overwhelming.  As I am short on time, like many of you here, I appreciate only having to pay attention to my own group. - Melissa

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Your point about "cheating" is interesting. It's not something I had given a lot of thought to. One work around is to force students to make a posting before they can read others' posts.
AS

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Laura,
I like your point about the "group think."
Switching things up is refreshing. From the higher education perspective, I would add that too much of change can be overwhelming for students especially in the online environment.
AS

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As a designer I think areas that are open to all invite more discussion among the members of the group as a whole. Sometimes the larger the group the better the discussion and the more opportunties to come up with workable solutions. When you limit the group, you limit the ability to obtain different points of view.  

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As a designer I think areas that are open to all invite more discussion among the members of the group as a whole. Sometimes the larger the group the better the discussion and the more opportunties to come up with workable solutions. When you limit the group, you limit the ability to obtain different points of view.  

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After time when you work with a specific group they start to all think alike. They become comfortable with each other and may stop thinking outside the box.
Depending on the project though -and taking into time constraints, smaller groups may be benifical.

Laura

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I think the pros are learning from other groups. For the modules facilitated by students this would offer different questions and discussions and every student in the class has an opportunity to learn from each other, not just their group members. In Module 2, the questions are facilitated by the Instructor and likely are the same questions for each group. I could see why it would be beneificial to close each group to prevent any cheating and keep discussions original to the author. 

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I think the pros are learning from other groups. For the modules facilitated by students this would offer different questions and discussions and every student in the class has an opportunity to learn from each other, not just their group members. In Module 2, the questions are facilitated by the Instructor and likely are the same questions for each group. I could see why it would be beneificial to close each group to prevent any cheating and keep discussions original to the author. 

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-Sondra

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Providing open access at first can give members a sense of safety in being able to view others comments and determine whether they are performing as expected- they can gauge their performance with others greater than the small group. This gives an idea of what others are talking about and the types of questions posed for facilitation. This can provide somewhat of an orientation for those who are not clear about expectation. On the other hand, learners may limit themselves more because of what they see others doing or perhaps even be able to avoid doing the preparatory work and reconstructing what others have said. Restriction of content for groups also provides less clutter and may improve ability to focus for some learners.  Lisa-

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In module 1, discussion areas were open to everyone. This module, I've restricted access to the groups.
As an instructional designer, why would I do this?
Any pros and cons?