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Student Group Work: Collaboration or Catastrophe?

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

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Student Group Work: Collaboration or Catastrophe?

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  1. Student Group Work: Collaboration or Catastrophe? Michelle TothFeinberg LibrarySUNY Plattsburgh tothmm@plattsburgh.edu

  2. What was your experience with group work in college?

  3. What are the down sides of group work?

  4. Why Group Work Sucks • Free-riders, loafers • Hoarders • Too time consuming • Difficult to schedule time out of class

  5. 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

  6. So why would you want to use group work?

  7. Benefits of Group Work Outside reasons: • Develops skills that can be used outside of school • Employers value it • Accreditation agencies require it

  8. 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

  9. 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

  10. Benefits of Group Work Teaching/Learning process: • Active learning • Students more engaged, on task • Improved learning outcomes, applying knowledge • Increased participation

  11. 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

  12. When and where would you use group work?

  13. 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

  14. For Every Instruction Situation, a Group Project Possibility • Online courses • Embedded as support for online groups • Library credit courses • On-campus • Online

  15. The Methods and Madness of Assigning Groups

  16. How do you group groups?

  17. 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

  18. Ways of Grouping • Who you are sitting next to • Random (1,2,3, - 1,2,3, etc…) • Astrological Sign • Students self-select groups

  19. Ways of Grouping • By Major • Interest in topics • Quiz scores • Skill sets • Schedule availability • Myers-Briggs (or other assessment) • Software - Team Maker

  20. To Consider While Grouping • Race / gender / age • International students • Grade / GPA • Outside commitments • Geographic location (online students)

  21. 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

  22. What do you do to create a good group project experience?

  23. 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

  24. 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)

  25. How to Facilitate a Good Group Experience • Class time for group work • Scaffolding assignments/activities • Roles and responsibilities are defined (& possibly rotated)

  26. How to Facilitate a Good Group Experience • “Tips from Survivors” – info shared from past successful groups • Schedule critical thinking timeI think… I wonder… I suggest… • Prepare groups to fall apartReserve time, Have a process

  27. 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

  28. 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

  29. Assessing the People, Process and the Products of Group Work

  30. How and what do you assess on group projects?

  31. 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?

  32. 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

  33. 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

  34. Peer Assessment • 57% include peer assessment • “Abandonment of instructional responsibility” (King) • Limited data on its effectiveness • Least effective tool for improving performance

  35. 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

  36. 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

  37. So are you excited about group projects?

  38. 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.

  39. This PowerPoint and the bibliography are available on my web page: http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/michelle.toth/

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