Network support for group-based learning: Is more better?

Group-based learning is being introduced into many settings in higher education. Is this a sustainable development with respect to the resources required? Under what conditions can group-based learning be applied successfully in distance education and in increasingly flexible campus-based learning? Can networked support facilitate and enrich courses where group-based learning is applied? These questions formed the basis of the motivation for the research project whose main results are presented here. The goals set for the research were the identification of problems associated with the planning, operationalisation, and monitoring of group tasks in group-based learning in higher education, and the identification of networked support options which, in combination with appropriate instructional decisions, have the potential to remedy these problems. The solutions identified were tested in the context of three case studies.