Supporting online collaborative learning in small groups: Teacher feedback on learning content, academic task and social participation

• The study explores teachers' feedback (FB) in small groups work in an online setting.
• Timing is a key factor for understanding the function and impact of teacher feedback.
• Quality feedback must address learning content, task and participation.
• Both verification/elaboration FB on content, task and participation are decisive.
• The focus and type of quality feedback must vary to cater to the needs of the groups.

The aim of the present study is to contribute to the understanding of the assistance provided by the teacher through feedback to support knowledge building among higher education students working in small groups in an online collaborative learning environment. The analysis examines 145 contributions made by a teacher to two groups of postgraduate students (group 1: 5 students; group 2: 4 students) of the same course whose task was to develop collaboratively a rubric for assessing teacher competencies by means of the Knowledge Forum platform. The results show that the teacher offered both elaboration and verification feedback, not only regarding the learning content but also the students' approach to the academic task and their social participation in the group. This would seem appropriate in terms of supporting the process of knowledge building in this kind of setting. The results also highlight that, when evaluating whether the feedback given is well matched to the needs of student groups engaged in online collaborative learning, it is important to take into account the timing of the teacher's interventions.