Student Group Work:
Collaboration or
Catastrophe?
Michelle Toth
Feinberg Library
SUNY Plattsburgh
tothmm@plattsburgh.edu
What was your
experience with group
work in college?
What are the down sides
of group work?
Why Group Work Sucks
•
•
•
•
Free-riders, loafers
Hoarders
Too time consuming
Difficult to schedule time out of class
Why Group Work Sucks
•
•
•
•
•
It is inefficient
Different expectations for the work/assignment
Don’t know how to work in groups
Anxiety about grades
Lacks fairness and accountability
So why would you want
to use group work?
Benefits of Group Work
Outside reasons:
– Develops skills that can be used outside of school
– Employers value it
– Accreditation agencies require it
Benefits of Group Work
Students (interpersonal):
– Social interaction, get to know others
– Social support for at-risk students
– Communication, dialog skills
– Learn to collaborate
– Work on negotiation, compromise and conflict
resolution
Benefits of Group Work
Students (learning):
– Exposed to diverse viewpoints/perspectives
– More/better ideas and solutions to problems
– Greater meta-cognition of learning
– Higher order learning: analysis, application
– Project management, problem solving
Benefits of Group Work
Teaching/Learning process:
– Active learning
– Students more engaged, on task
– Improved learning outcomes, applying knowledge
– Increased participation
Benefits of Group Work
For Instructors:
– Decreased grading load (maybe)
– More time to reflect on students’ learning
– Delegating authority – students more responsible for
their own learning
– Opportunities to re-teach, without holding others
back
– Maintaining faculty’s enthusiasm for teaching
When and where would
you use group work?
For Every Instruction Situation,
a Group Project Possibility
• Course-related one-shots
– In a computer classroom
– In a lecture hall
• Instructor assigned groups
• Librarian created groups
For Every Instruction Situation,
a Group Project Possibility
• Online courses
– Embedded as support for online groups
• Library credit courses
– On-campus
– Online
The Methods and Madness of
Assigning Groups
How do you group
groups?
Best Grouping Practices
• Consensus in research on groups – groups
should be small, between 3-5, some say 4 or less.
• There is no one best way of assigning groups.
– Heterogeneous vs. Homogeneous
– Self-Selecting vs. Assigned
Ways of Grouping
•
•
•
•
Who you are sitting next to
Random (1,2,3, - 1,2,3, etc…)
Astrological Sign
Students self-select groups
Ways of Grouping
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
By Major
Interest in topics
Quiz scores
Skill sets
Schedule availability
Myers-Briggs (or other assessment)
Software - Team Maker
To Consider While Grouping
•
•
•
•
•
Race / gender / age
International students
Grade / GPA
Outside commitments
Geographic location (online students)
Barriers to Good Group Work
• Individual student characteristics and motivation
• Previous bad group/team experiences
• No training, understanding of group work
• Instructor not explaining the benefits/purpose of
group work
• Unclear directions – kills time & creates conflict
What do you do to create
a good group project
experience?
Teaching Students about Groups
• Critique how other groups work
– Hangover, Star Wars, Avengers, …
• Review: communication, problem solving,
conflict resolution
• Stages of groups/teams:
– Forming, storming, norming, performing,
adjourning
How to Facilitate a Good
Group Experience
• Start small, build on success
• Address social aspect – ‘get to know you’ and
team building activities
• Teach how to give good feedback
(praise/constructive criticism/next steps)
How to Facilitate a Good
Group Experience
• Class time for group work
• Scaffolding assignments/activities
• Roles and responsibilities are defined (&
possibly rotated)
How to Facilitate a Good
Group Experience
• “Tips from Survivors” – info shared from past
successful groups
• Schedule critical thinking time
I think… I wonder… I suggest…
• Prepare groups to fall apart
Reserve time, Have a process
How to Facilitate a Good
Group Experience
• Positive Interdependence
“We all want to contribute something unique,
have an important role, to be valued by
others” (Frey)
– Report, share, compare
– Reciprocal teaching
– Jigsaw approach – home group and expert group
Elements for a Good Group
• Time interacting together
• Resources (esp. intellectual)
• Challenging task that becomes a common goal
• Frequent feedback on individual and group
performance
Assessing the People, Process and
the Products of Group Work
How and what do you
assess on group projects?
What are you Assessing?
• Process or Product? Or both?
– What % of grade for each
• What criteria will be used?
• Who will apply the criteria?
– Instructor and/or peers
• How will grades be calculated?
Grading
•
•
•
•
•
One grade for the group
Two separate grades – 1 individual, 1 group
Only individual grades
How big a part of the final course grade
Not graded at all
Assessing the Process
•
•
•
•
Threaded online conversations or documents
Individual reflections, answers to questions
Portfolio with individual work identified
Criteria for assessing the process:
– Attendance
– Contributions (quantity and quality)
– Time and task management
Peer Assessment
• 57% include peer assessment
• “Abandonment of instructional responsibility”
(King)
• Limited data on its effectiveness
• Least effective tool for improving performance
Peer Assessment
• Use to monitor the group, not grade it
• For formative feedback
– ‘How am I Doing’ Rubric (peer or self assessment)
– Constructive and encourage improvement
• A ‘firing’ option
Assessing the Group Project
Experience
• 3 Words on group work
– First set based on previous group work
– After the project, about this group experience
• Post group debriefing
– What worked, trouble spots, done differently
• Self-reflection
– On contribution, on product
• Survey
So are you excited about
group projects?
Some final thoughts…
• A lot of great advice from Problem/Project Based
Learning also applies to group work.
• Try turning an area you are struggling to teach
into a group project.
• Be sure to use regular (and maybe extra)
evaluations of the instruction session to help
document changes & to see if they are effective.
This PowerPoint and the bibliography
are available on my web page:
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/michelle.toth/