What kind of knowledge activities are required in
order for students to conduct online group work activities
successfully in distance education? This paper reports on the
knowledge activities involved within online group work in
distance education. It explains the types of knowledge used in
these activities. The research is a qualitative case study set
within an activity theory framework. Participatory observation
and documentation are the data collection techniques used. It
investigated student knowledge activities in a postgraduate
subject called "Information Management in Organizations". A
learning management system (LMS) called Interact (powered
by Sakai) was explored. Students were grouped together to
work online with team members geographically distributed
over Australia and around the world. Students progressively
developed their assignment in Wiki and use other group work
tools for their communication and storage of documents. Data
collected from participatory observation and documentation
were used to investigate the group work knowledge activities.
The research will report the various knowledge activity
improvements explored. It proposes a model of an activity
system that explains how knowledge activities are represented
through activity theory notions for distance education online
group assessments.