Active learning approaches allow students to excel at course material at higher cognitive levels. One of these strategies is cooperative learning, where students learn in small groups. This approach fosters retention, motivation, and critical thinking. In addition, using research-based teaching strategies where students can work hands-on on real-world problems improves learning outcomes. A fair amount of learning takes place online, which leads to the question of how research-based group projects can be included successfully in an online environment. This research aims to answer this question by studying undergraduate online students. The main objective is to shed light on students’ attitudes toward cooperative learning in online education. The main contribution is to highlight how a research-based group project can be incorporated in a fully online delivered course and how it is received by students. Key findings are that the majority of students agree that such an activity is a good opportunity to practice working in teams for future jobs. In particular women and those who hold a positive attitude toward group projects were most likely to view the research-based group project as good preparation.

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