Student Group Work: Collaboration or Catastrophe? Michelle Toth Feinberg Library SUNY Plattsburgh

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: