Students are involved in semester-long group projects as part of the capstone course in the web development program at William Rainey Harper College. This presents a special challenge in an online course. This presentation looks at one instructor’s attempt to encourage ethical student participation in the group project.

First, the type and scope of the project is introduced. Next, the focus is on setting the stage for the online group work. Techniques used in the online course to introduce working in a virtual team, group activities, and the group project are examined. Various communication methods used by students are discussed, along with issues encountered by the students as they try to work online in groups. Finally, the technique of peer review used to promote the ethical participation of all students in each group is explored.