Tuesday’s LTC lunch provided a chance to discuss approaches for managing group work in courses. We explored the perennial question of how to form groups. The Tomorrow’s Professor post Ways to Form Student Groups provided some research-based background on the benefits and drawbacks of various approaches. For extended group projects, nearly every faculty member noted that they were intentional in their design of the groups.
A few faculty members noted the value of asking students to identify what strengths they bring to a group, and what they need from other group members, at the beginning of a group project. This encourages students to recognize that everyone has something to bring to a group, and the skills that are important for group functioning are not necessarily linked to academic skills. Encouraging students to consider who is detail-oriented, who is good at keeping people on task, who is an effective mediator, helps the group recognize the talents of members beyond academic knowledge.
Group work process and evaluation were another focus of our conversations. Guidelines for using groups effectively compiled by C. Hershock and S. Milkova at Michigan’s CRLT provided some helpful background for the discussions. We each had our own approaches to framing group assignments and evaluating the effectiveness of the group during and after the process, and the LTC is in the process of compiling example assignments and evaluation frameworks to share. Please contact Melissa or Mary Drew if you would be willing to contribute one of your group work teaching resources to share with others, or if you would like to have access to the examples that have been submitted.
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