I found this study interesting https://jolt.merlot.org/documents/cuthrell.pdf
where students provided their opinions and preferences for online instructional strategies. The different methods of PowerPoint, group discussions, audio files, read and respond, read and teach and interactive video lectures were surveyed. The results illustrated that the students preference were to complete independent tasks. As a previous online student, I can relate. Many students have other responsibilities such as families, employment and other obligations that group assignments can be a challenge to connect (particularly if others are in different time zones). With my own professional and personal responsibilities, I often would prefer to complete independent tasks even though sometimes I felt isolated from the class. What I did enjoy was the read and teach (perhaps it played on my strengths!) so my take away from the article and my next steps to implement what I earned is to provide students choice in their final assignment. For example, I will ask them to choose a method that would play upon their strengths and add creativity (art, poetry, rap, sing) and share their creations and peers can provide their feedback which I hope would be a ‘thinking outside the box’ idea.