1. Setting the Stage for Effective Group Work

2. By participating in the workshop, you will have the opportunity to:
clarify your reasons for using group work
articulate learning goals you have for group work in your course
assess various strategies for fit with your group work plans
see an improved group learning process take place next time

3. Agenda Who’s here? Welcome and Introductions
Why group work? Learning goals for group work
What strategies could work? Share and discuss
Grouping students
Connecting students
Supporting the process
So, what? Wrap up
Not spending time on assessment, expect to the extent it sets up group learning
Introduce yourself:
Name?
Your teaching area/discipline?
What’s your group project?

4. Benefits Challenges For Students For Instructors In your experience –
Quotes:
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
The biggest room in the world, is the room for improvement.

5. What should students know about your reasons for using group work?
Important to explain reasons for using this approach to student learning, relevance, applicability, benefits…
Consider making this explicit in syllabus or assessment details.

6. Which approach do you expect?

7. Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org
Cooperate, divide and conquer, who does what, assemble the parts into a whole
Cooperate, divide and conquer, who does what, assemble the parts into a whole
Simple, reasonable for those new to group work
Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org

8. Photo Credit: neontommy.com Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org
Creating something new, must work together, each bring an ingredient, is the product collectively formed
Creating something new, must work together, each bring an ingredient, is the product collectively formed
Interdependence, complex reasonable for those with some group work experience
Photo Credit: neontommy.com Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org

9. What do you want students to practice and become better able to do as a result of group work?
Students are accustomed to product goals, not process
If you have process skill goals, such as clear communication and conflict management, explain their practical benefit, including workplaces.
What product and process will provide reasonable evidence that this has occured

10. Through group work, students in this course will become better able to:
____________________________________________

12. Grouping students

13. Grouping students Size (Optimal? Odd or even numbers?) Self-select?
Student Learning Services video
Cautions about choosing friends
Cautions about homogeneity
Assign?
On what basis?
Random
Distribution of skills or prior knowledge
Capitalize on diverse experience
Organize around topic interest
Scheduling realities
Some students will like what you do with respect to this, some will not. How will you explain the reason for your approach. Will you consider any special requests?

14. Connecting students

15. Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development (c. 1965)
Forming  Storming  Norming  Performing
(Many youtube videos available on this, here is one)
Each stage has its particular behaviours, tasks, emotions – Useful framework to talk about developing the team, not really a diagnostic tool
Forming: positive, polite, anxious, some effort to get to know each other
Storming: push back, frustration with different styles, jockeying for position, some teams never get past this
Norming: differences start to be resolved, appreciate and respect strength, ask for help, provide feedback
Performing: works gets done, goals achieved, deadlines met
Adjourning: need for group is over, work is done, time to transition (may be hard to stop meeting)

16. Developing interpersonal connection
Attend to physical set up
Everyone can see and hear
Inclusive set up for this exchange very important
Introductions (provide icebreaker or guide)
Name, major, year of study, reasons for taking this course
Experiences with group work
Strengths you bring to a group (skills, knowledge, connections)
Initial task to work on together, such as….
Goals, mark goals
2-min memo to instructor about concerns

17. 3 ideas for setting ground rules
Use a ready-made list
Example 10 ground rules for meetings poster
Example 8 Ground rules for great meetings article
Customize a ready-made list
Example Team Charters
Build a list of rules from scratch
Ask them to reflect on positive cooperative/collaborative experiences (create a list of do’s, rather than don’ts)
Then, share the stories
Then, identify the themes and what that means going forward for this group
Don’t assume students already know how to work successfully in groups. In fact, their bad experiences may overwhelm their openness to the approach

18. Student Learning Services
Group Work Resources

19. Supporting Process

20. Provide process direction
Define the task
Identify (some) steps necessary to accomplish the goal
Suggest project timelines, interim deadlines
Identify possible roles (UBC video)
Suggest collaboration tools (e.g. google doc)
Provide some meeting periods during regular class time (think about timing, i.e., not at the end)
Alert students to common pitfalls, how to resolve them

21. Require Process updates
Ground rules or team charters
Meeting agendas, minutes
Progress reports
Mid-project meeting with instructor

22. Anticipate Conflict/Controversy
Benefit of constructive conflict, multiple points of view, critical thinking, etc
Provide some tools
Cultivating Collaboration
Periodic Peer feedback (rubrics?)
“Oops, ouch” – A norm that can be established in a group about how to acknowledge a unproductive comment (oops) and how to acknowledge an disrespectful or offensive remark (ouch)
8:30

23. Sample form for peer feedback
Low compared to the group
Similar to other members of the group
High compared to the group
Effort
Participation
Cooperativeness
Accessibility
Communication

24. Accountabilities and Conflict
Class-wide check in? (anonymity has +/-)
“Snowball” lesson
“Identify a problem you are observing, experiencing in your group. Do not sign your name or give identifying information.”
2-minute memos
“What would you like the instructor to know about your process so far”
“What would you like your group members to know”
Instructor summarize next class
Rules for approaching/involving you?
Snowball lesson

25. So, what now? Something to keep doing? Something to try doing?
Something to tweak?

26. Acknowledgements Carnegie Mellon University’s Eberly Centre for Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation
Using Group Projects Effectively
LOTS HERE!
Solve a teaching problem
TREMENDOUS TOOL FOR ASSORTED TEACHING CONCERNS!