Social Loafing in Online Learning Environments
Posted by Phyllis Stith on August 23rd, 2008
Technological advances have resulted in an increase of online courses. As a result, students are often required to collaborate with other students in group related activities. However, this can be intimidating to some students who don’t believe their work is appreciated and may result in social loafing.
Social loafing occurs when some members of a particular group fail to contribute an equal amount of effort to the overall output of the group and is caused by several factors. For example, some students are naturally domineering and have a knack of taking on leadership responsibilities. As a result, student with less aggressive personalities will often do less out of fear of the dominant student(s). Thus, students enrolled in online environment should try to communicate in ways that encourage active participation from all members of the group.
On the other hand, there are some students that will shirk responsibility because they know that the other group members are willing and able to handle the tasks at hand. When this occurs, team members should immediately notify the individual that is not actively participating so that he or she is given a fair opportunity to provide viable input. If this methodology is non productive, the group may choose to notify the instructor about the deficiency so that the matter can be escalated diplomatically.
Finally, course developers should seek ways to develop educational technology that would give each member the opportunity to collaborate with other group members in effective ways through electronic tracking. In addition, instructors should encourage students to engage in group activity because it not only increases social skills, but also serves to enhance critical thinking skills as well because it gives students the ability to analyze the thoughts of others. Moreover, each student that is enrolled in online courses should contribute to group related activities in a consistent manner because it is an integral part of the course requirement.
