Facilitating Group Work

1. Facilitating Group Work Facilitated by Dalia Hanna, GoshaZywno and Maureen Reed The Learning and Teaching Office March 21, 2012

2. Objectives • Explore best practices in designing student group work • How to manage groups (Communication & Conflict) • How to assess group work

3. Designing Successful Group Work • Make the group work relevant • Create assignments that fit the students' skills and abilities • Assign group tasks that allow for a fair division of labor • Plan for individual accountability • Create group tasks that require interdependence (Davis, 1993)

4. Designing Successful Group Work Research indicates the manner in which an instructor facilitates a group project has a significant impact on the success of the group project • Be sure the task is worthy of a group • Design the assignment: Stay focused on your intended learning objectives. • Prepare students for collaboration: Provide students with strategies and tools to help them collaborate • Do regular assessments: Clearly articulate how you will measure success for both the collaborative process and the final product. (University of Wisconsin, 2009)

5. Type of Groups • Project Groups: • Student-Formed Groups • Instructor-Assigned Groups “Although students-selected groups perceived they produced higher-quality work, the actual grades assigned to the group projects did not differ between group formation condition.” (Hilton & Phillips, 2010, p.26)

6. Group Work: Faculty members say The most common problems of group work are: • An absence of leadership and cooperation • Difficulty defining and assigning tasks, and maintaining equal participation • Scheduling meetings, and achieving group goals

7. Group Work: Faculty members say Common issues:   • My students don’t like or want to work in groups • How do I decide which assignments/activities to make collaborative? • How do I divide students into groups? • How can I help students learn to work in groups? • How can I deal with conflicts within the groups? • How do I grade collaborative work? • What are ways of dealing with unproductive or disruptive members? (Schwartz, 2011)

8. Group Work: Faculty members • Unproductive or disruptive members: • Tasks assigned weren’t well-suited to complete • Neglected to send important email messages • Scheduled meetings at times they couldn’t attend • Set impossible deadlines • No peer support (Freeman & Greenacre as cited in the Teaching professor, 2011)

9. Group Work: Research The Association of American Colleges and Universities have identified group work as a high impact educational practice. Group work • Assists student to problem solve • Help students to work in team environments (Macgregor, Cooper, Smith & Robinson, 2000)

10. Group Work: Research • The reasons for using group work (100 faculty interviewed): • Promoting cognitive elaboration • Enhancing critical thinking • Providing feedback • Promoting social and emotional development • Appreciating diversity • Reducing student attrition

11. Group Work: Research The National Survey on Student Engagement (NSSE) identified Active and Collaborative Learning as one of 5 benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice. • Students learn more when they are: • Intensely involved in their education • Are asked to think about and apply what they are learning in different settings. (NSSE, 2009)

12. Group Work: Students say Engage Technology Enhanced Group Work Award survey. Over 800 students participated. • 86% agree that group work is valuable • 63% agree that they learn more effectively in groups (University of Wisconsin, 2009)

13. Managing Groups A group came to you saying, we can not understand what we are supposed to do, we tried to work together but failed to make any progress? • What are the questions that you would need to ask? • What are the tools that you could provide? • How can you help them to communicate effectively? Designate time for team support. Don’t wait until they come to you with problems. They may never come

14. The purpose of the Group • Tubbs & Moss (2000): Small number of people learn together about a subject • Werthein (2001) added: …with complementary skills, committed to a common goal, a common working approach and mutual accountability (as cited in Oudtshroone & Hay, n.d.) • A group project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result (PMBOK, 2004)

15. The purpose of the Group • Group work is best when project management is considered • Project Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements - (PMBOK, 2004)

16. Project Management • Project Management Processes : • Initiation • Planning • Executing • Monitoring and Controlling • Closing (PMBOK, 2004)

17. Project Management: Triple Constraints SCOPE QUALITY COST TIME

18. Project Management: Initiation • A project charter or project definition states: • Group goals and objectives (Clearly stated) • Roles and responsibilities • Communication methods • What happens if things go wrong? (WHO is doing WHAT)

19. Project Management: Planning • While planning the project, the project plan should involve all appropriate student members. (PMBOK, 2004) • Example: After creating the charter, clear goals and responsibilities are assigned. Details about each goal should also be identified (Work breakdown structure – WBS)

20. Project Management: Planning • Student could present their plans using a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

21. What are Stages of Group Development? Forming Storming Performing Adjourning Norming

22. Help Your Students Establish Roles • Clear objectives (The purpose) • The charter (Contract) • Determine the size and composition • The leadership role rotates • Other roles: • Note taker • Time keeper • Monitor (FitzRandolph & Farrell, 2005) Forming

23. Help Your Students Reach the Goals Storming • (Me) Versus (We) • Communication skills and conflict management skills • Listen and paraphrase • Confront the problem student directly • Tolerate and encourage disagreement Storming

24. Help Your Students to Communicate in Groups • Interpersonal Communication: • Two-way communication is necessary (Wilbur Schramm as cited in Verma, 1996) Sender Message Receiver Culture Values Personalities Emotions Judgments

25. Communication Methods: Face-to-Face • Verbal • Nonverbal • Written Albert Meharabian: Total Message Impact = Words (7%) + Vocal tones (38%) + Facial expressions (55%) (as cited in Verma, 1996) • Meetings (Timing – Agenda – Notes – Follow-up)

26. Communication Methods: Virtual • Tools to meet and connect virtually: • Document Sharing: Google Docs • Wikis: Wikispaces • File Sharing: Dropbox • VoIP: Skype (http://www.skype.com) • Characteristics of a virtual meeting

27. Group Work Assessment Norming Norming • Check in with student teams, ask for drafts • Danger: feeling of cohesion vs. good decision-making Performing • Members achieve the goals • Any unplanned changes in members or roles could take them back to the Storming phase Performing (FitzRandolph & Farrell, 2005)

28. Group Work Assessment Adjourning Adjourning • Evaluation and Assessment (Rubrics) • Be careful when you give a group mark (Academic Integrity Reasons) • Marking individually could create sense of isolation especially from the low performers and minority

29. Help your Student to Resolve Conflict Conflict Management Skills: • Assertiveness, the person satisfies his/her own concerns • Cooperativeness, person attempts to satisfy the other person's concerns  • These two basic dimensions of behavior define five different modes for responding to conflict situations: Competing, Collaborating, Compromising, Accommodating, and Avoiding (TKI-Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument)

30. Common conflicts in group work • One student is a ‘social loafer’, that is this student does not contribute to the group Potential solutions?

31. Conflicts continued • Students are arguing about the division of work because one student has taken over others tasks Potential solutions?

32. Conflicts continued • There seems to be personality conflicts within a group. Potential solutions?

33. Conflicts continued • You know that students have not contributed equally but in peer evaluations students gave equal grades to all group members. Potential solutions?

34. References A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (3rd ed.). (2004). Newtown, PA: Project Management Institute Davis B. G. (1993). Collaborative Learning: Group Work and Study Teams. In Tools for Teaching. Retrieved from http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/collaborative.html Hicks, Chelsea (2011), “Guiding Group work: Activities to maximize student learning from group projects,” Teaching Innovation projects: Vol. 1 Iss. 1, Article 6. Available at: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/tips/vol1/iss1/6 Hilton, S. and Phillips, F. (2101). Instructor-assigned and student-selected groups: A view from the inside. The Teaching Professor (2011, June-July, vol. 25, n.6, 2011) FitzRandolph, S. & Farrell, G. (2005). Survey of literature on the use of learning and project teams in the classroom Freeman, L. and Greenacre, L. (2011). An examination of socially destructive behaviors in group wok. An article in The Teaching Professor (2010, April, vol. 24, n.4, 2010) Oudtshroone, R. & Hay, D. (n.d.). Group work in higher education: a mismanaged evil or a potential good?. Retrieved from http://nwu.academia.edu/GPvanRheedevanOudtshoorn/Papers/487967/Group_work_in_higher_education_a_mismanaged_evil_or_a_potential_good Schwartz, M. (2011). Common issues about group work from faculty perspective. Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument— also known as the TKI (Mountain View, CA: CPP, Inc., 1974–2009). Kenneth W. Thomas and Ralph H. Kilmann Retrieved from: http://www.kilmann.com/conflict.html University of Wisconsin, Technology-Enhanced Collaborative Group Work, Retrieved from: http://engage.wisc.edu/collaboration/how_to/index.html Verma, V. K. (1997). Managing the project team. The human aspect of project management (v. 3). Newtown, PA: Project Management Institute

35. Questions/Comments