Online group work

While I fully endorse many aspects of online learning and hope to use such aspects as online communication through course websites and online testing, I think that strictly online group work is something I will avoid as much as possible. I found this project very frustrating as I was in a group of 3, the other two members of which were more into procrastinating than I was. This resulted in my emails to them not getting returned for several days, usually until I emailed again and me being somewhat stressed about getting it done as I didn't really have any other means of communication with them. We suggested online meetings but never seemed to all be around at the same time. In the end, it did get done, but the clash of styles is more difficult to overcome when working online. Its much easier to ignore the anxious group member when its just an email than when you have to interact with them in person. In the end our group certainly pulled the project together and everyone did their fair share but the process was much more frustrating than an in-person groups project would have been.
Not something I will be assigning my students!