Experiences with online group work among master's students in health sciences: a qualitative study

Group work is commonly used in health science education to foster active learning and developing teamwork skills. Following the online transition in higher education, group work is increasingly conducted online. Although, group work offers online students a valuable arena to interact with and learn from fellow students, research indicates challenges for successful online collaboration. Few studies have focused on facilitators and barriers to online group work as their primary objective, and even fewer within health sciences providing in-depth knowledge of the students' perspective. Therefore, we aimed to explore health science master's students' experiences of facilitators and barriers to online group work.

We conducted individual interviews with master's students in health sciences enrolled at a Norwegian university. The interviews were conducted from May 13th, 2022, through September 5th, 2022, by videoconference. A semi-structured interview guide was used, and the interviews were analysed guided by Reflexive Thematic Analysis by Braun and Clark.

Fourteen students from eight different health science master's programmes were interviewed. From the analysis we developed three main themes: "Participating in online group work - a matter of priority", "Students' need for continuity in the group" and "Finding the flow in online group work". These were further described in eight subthemes: "The duality of flexibility" and "The need for valid reasons to prioritise participation", "The need to get to know the others", "The need to feel safe in the group", "Shared responsibility in participation", "Mastering communication", "Technical infrastructure and competences", and "Clear assignments and guidance".

Based on our findings we believe online group work needs to be adapted to the specific demands of the online setting and have several proposals. One may consider making elements of the group work mandatory to provide continuity in the group. Allocating time for groups to get to know each other and introducing basic guidelines for online group work may foster good group dynamics. Also using assignments that promote shared effort, clearly outlining how the students may benefit from participating, may promote group processes that enhance learning and satisfaction. Hopefully this may encourage students to prioritise participation in online group work.