The task that was set required the students to produce analyses of media archives on contested science topics during a day-long activity where they worked in small groups of 4-8 participants. In the online seminar that we examined there were nine students as sometimes groups need to be re-organized to make sure every group had comparable numbers. After students individually examined the archive of newspaper articles and videos (provided in course materials) and performed a content analysis of this media archive, they sent an opening statement (about 250 words) to the online seminar. They addressed the following questions in their opening statements:
1. What is the nature of science portrayed by the different announcements?
2. How does this impact on the coverage and the development of the story?
3. Does this change over time?
4. What is the target audience for the video material?
All nine students sent their opening statements and they addressed the above questions. These initial statements provided a starting point for discussion as students commented on each other's initial statements and mentioned the points with which they agreed and disagreed. The exchanges were mainly complementary as students covered many aspects and discussed different scientific controversies. Students were asked to exchange ideas, debate findings and produce a collective group report at the end of the day. As mentioned before one of the aims of the course was to help students develop skills to consider ways in which the contemporary mass media influence the communication of scientific information and understanding. As we will see below in the collaborative processes analysis, students collaboratively considered media influence on scientific information and understanding and both the task set and the resourcing of the collaborative experience led to extensive discussion and a product (final collaborative report) that could be evaluated, which helps to assess learning (Crook 1994).
In addition, this activity is only one of the several activities similarly designed to provide collaborative studying experience for the duration of the course. These activities are carefully selected in areas that would be interest to students, structured to provide a collaborative environment and students are presented these tasks during the course at relevant points.