As higher education institutions progressively deliver many more courses through online mode, student retention in courses and ensuring participation in tasks and activities are becoming more a concern to teachers and educational institutions. This pilot study--an action learning project--explored the effect of including students' identified facilitators (processes around learning organisation, tasks demands and concerns) based on the research literature on student participation in online group work and learning engagement. It was based on The Model of Teacher Action and Student Reaction in Teaching & Learning (TA-SR) that springs from The Theory of Planned Behaviour and gives consideration to what students feel and how they react to teacher decisions and actions. The result showed that such an approach to implementing online group activities has the potential to improve some students' participation and that students may benefit by way of learning. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)