A Survey of Virtual Small Group Use, Construction, and Assessment in American Higher Education
Abstract: This qualitative descriptive statistical study surveyed higher education faculty across multiple institutions, disciplines, and states to gather information about the current use of small groups in online learning. The twelve-item questionnaire reveals that 93% of respondents taught courses and 62% used small groups. Groups were most commonly 3-5 students, evenly split of created by the instructor/self-enrolled, and membership remained consistent throughout the term. Instructors considered group work to be a high stakes grade, distributed grades to students by project attributions, allowed students to critique group members, and used the critique in grading. Text messages, Zoom/Teams, email, LMS messages, GoogleDocs/Dropbox, and LMS group tools were the most commonly used communication tools by students. Reflections on student course evaluation comments and advice for best practice were included in the survey for analysis.