ABSTRACT
The Faculty of Science and Technology at Gunma University initiated an employability scheme for its first-year students in 2010. A new course, Career Design was established with the purpose of enhancing students’ collaborative skills. Due to anti-virus measures against the global pandemic of COVID-19, online classes were introduced in many universities. This study reports on a trial of group work activities conducted online. A tool in a collaborative workspace was employed. Preliminary results suggest the tool is effective for online group work based on the analysis of student responses. Data from the 2020 online class were compared to responses from conventional classes before 2020. It was found that there were no significant differences in questionnaire results between conventional and online classes. However, some challenges were revealed such as the neediness for more ingenuity in online education methods to enhance communication between students.