1. Enhancing Small Group Teaching and Group Projects
Cheryl Kozina, Math and Science Department
Melissa Jones, Teaching & Learning Specialist

2. Why Groups? Most jobs are collaborative
Practice communication of science <insert your subject here> with peers
Learn to work with different personality types
Practice conflict resolution
Reduce the student workload

3. Different Types of Group Assignments
Daily, in class
Long-term assignments
Groups together for a few weeks, shuffled after each exam
Work ideally completed in class
Students get a say in their group
Everyone must work in a group
One group, stays together for the entire semester
Work may be done outside of class
Completely the students’ choice
Option to work alone

4. In-Class Groups
Teams that stay together for short periods of time (between exams)
Complete daily assignments – case studies, modeling, etc.
Submit one assignment for the entire group
Teams are set up by professor

5. In-Class Group Selection – Students Get a Say
Choice 1
Mike K. - Yes
Bobby(dark hair)- No
Choice 2
Your Name
Cheryl K.
Your name goes in the middle – this is kind of important!
Each corner you get a choice – someone that you would like to work with, or someone that you would prefer not to work with
One choice per corner
Include last names???
I will only guarantee to satisfy one corner, but I will try to do as many as possible
No is more important than yes (more on this in a second)
Suzie(swimmer) - Yes
Frank – NO!!!
Choice 3
Choice 4

6. In-Class Group Selection – I Get Final Say
Several Approaches
Satisfy as many student requests as possible
Personality clashes – “no” more important than “yes”
Your Name
Cheryl K.
Mike K. - Yes
Bobby(dark hair) - No
Suzie(swimmer) - Yes
Frank – NO!!!
Student requests – this will make the students very happy, creating “dream teams”
Personality – I always try to satisfy as many of the NO requests. Those suggest underlying drama that I do not want to have to deal with daily.

7. In-Class Group Selection – I Get Final Say
Several Approaches
Satisfy as many student requests as possible
Personality clashes – “no” more important than “yes”
Class grades?
Student requests – this will make the students very happy, creating “dream teams”
Personality – I always try to satisfy as many of the NO requests. Those suggest underlying drama that I do not want to have to deal with daily.
Grades – May choose to organize the groups by their grades on the last exam/in the class. Stratify or captain approach
Student Performance

8. In-Class Group Selection – I Get Final Say
Other Considerations
Slackers not pulling their weight
Slackers – may want to keep these folks in different groups, or punish them by putting them all together

9. In-Class Group Selection – I Get Final Say
Other Considerations
Slackers not pulling their weight
Students with poor attendance
Slackers – may want to keep these folks in different groups, or punish them by putting them all together
Poor attendance – don’t put too many of these together or it may affect the dynamic of the team

10. In-Class Group Selection – I Get Final Say
Other Considerations
Slackers not pulling their weight
Students with poor attendance
Classes with high withdraw rates
Slackers – may want to keep these folks in different groups, or punish them by putting them all together
Poor attendance – don’t put too many of these together or it may affect the dynamic of the team
Drop-out – groups may rapidly change due to withdrawals, so bigger groups may be better in these classes

11. In-Class Group Selection – I Get Final Say
Other Considerations
Slackers not pulling their weight
Students with poor attendance
Classes with high withdraw rates
Small classes with lots of personality clashes
Your Name
Cheryl K.
Mike K. - No
Bobby(dark hair) - NO
Suzie(swimmer) – NO!!
Frank – NO!!!
Slackers – may want to keep these folks in different groups, or punish them by putting them all together
Poor attendance – don’t put too many of these together or it may affect the dynamic of the team
Drop-out – groups may rapidly change due to withdrawals, so bigger groups may be better in these classes
Small classes – how to handle when the students come to class with existing relationships

12. Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning
Student-centered, group-learning instructional strategy and philosophy
Each student gets a role:
Manager/Facilitator
Speaker/Presenter
Reflector/Strategy Analyst
Recorder
Roles can rotate each class meeting
Roles can be selected by birthday, rotating each day, whatever works best

13. POGIL - Manager
Make sure team starts quickly and remains focused during the activity
Takes care of time management
Make sure all voices in the team are heard

14. POGIL – Speaker
Communicates team questions and clarifications with the professor or other teams
Ensures all team members have had a chance to respond before asking outside sources
Ensures that everyone in the team agrees on what to ask if an outside source is consulted
Presents conclusion of the team to the class, as requested

15. POGIL - Reflector
Guides consensus-building process; team must agree on responses to questions
Observes team dynamics and behavior with respect to the learning process
Reports to the team periodically during the activity on how the team performs
Be ready to report to the entire class (or professor) about how well the team is operating

16. POGIL - Recorder
Records the names and roles of the group members at the beginning of each class
Records the important aspects of group discussions, observations, insights, etc.
The recorder’s report is a log of the important concepts that the group has learned
Recorder submits the final assignment to the professor

17. Division of Labor Why bother with POGIL roles?
Students will tend to divide work up, rather than working collaboratively
“You do 1-3, I’ll do 4-6, she can do 7-9.”

18. Peer Grading
Distribute 60 points among your group members (Don’t grade yourself)
Grading 2 people: ± 30
Grading 3 people: ± 20
Grading 4 people: ± 15
Group members who went above and beyond – give them more of the points
Group members that didn’t pull their weight – give them fewer points
Total to all group members, not to exceed 60

19. Peer Grading An assignment where the group earned 90%:
Group members may get 90%
or may get 80%
or may get 105%
etc…
All depends on peer assessment of contribution

20. Peer Review 

21. Benefits of Peer Review
Faculty 
Students
Reduces Workload
Offers Feedback as a Constructive Dialogue 
Creates Classroom Community
Develops Critical Reading & Analysis Skills
Allows for More Critical Discussion of Assignment 
Encourages Communication 
Supports Learning as a Process
Reinforces the Importance of Audience 

22. Effective Peer Review 
Blind
Transparent 

23. Effective Peer Review Clarify
Clarify the importance, expectations, and value
Provide 
Provide instructions, specific questions, and sample peer reviewed paper
Model
Model the peer review experience 

24. Effective Peer Review Formative Focus on Revision On-going
Emphasis on Higher Order
Neutral and Objective 
Questions

25. Peer Review Guides

26. Peer Review in Your Classes

27. Can Courses Make My Life Easier with Groups?
Set up Groups
Set up Assignments by Group
Grade once per group – distributes to all

28. Setting up Groups in Courses
Groups Tool
# of Groups – No Auto Enrollments
Pick a name
Lockers, Discussion, etc.
Enroll Users

29. Setting up Assignments by Groups
Create Assignments as Group Assignments
Link to Grade Item
Any group member can submit the assignment
All members can see that the assignment has been submitted

30. Grading Group Assignments in Courses
Grade once per group
The grade distributes to all members of the group
Numerical score and comments
Can tweak individual grades/comments after distribution

31. Beyond Courses for Collaboration
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA.
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC.

32. Beyond Courses for Collaboration

33. Thank You!