The group or collaborative project is becoming de rigueur in many online courses. Its purpose is not simply to have students work together for a joint grade and end project but also to develop essential skills that will serve them in the professional world. Yet students can't merely be tossed into groups, given an assignment, and told to produce. This approach would lead to mixed results and frustrated students. Rather, there is an art to the online group project, with many parts that must be considered.