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Many students have had little experience working in groups in an academic setting. While there are many excellent books and articles describing group processes, this guide is intended to be short and simply written for students who are working in groups, but who may not be very interested in too much detail. It also provides teachers (and students) with tips on assigning group projects, ways to organize groups, and what to do when the process goes awry.

Some reasons to ask students to work in groups

Asking students to work in small groups allows students to learn interactively. Small groups are good for:

• generating a broad array of possible alternative points of view or solutions to a problem
• giving students a chance to work on a project that is too large or complex for an individual
• allowing students with different backgrounds to bring their special knowledge, experience, or skills to a project, and to explain their orientation to others
• giving students a chance to teach each other
• giving students a structured experience so they can practice skills applicable to professional situations

Some benefits of working in groups (even for short periods of time in class)

• Students who have difficulty talking in class may speak in a small group.
• More students, overall, have a chance to participate in class.
• Talking in groups can help overcome the anonymity and passivity of a large class or a class meeting in a poorly designed room.
• Students who expect to participate actively prepare better for class.

Caveat: If you ask students to work in groups, be clear about your purpose, and communicate it to them. Students who fear that group work is a potential waste of valuable time may benefit from considering the reasons and benefits above.

Large projects over a period of time

Faculty asking students to work in groups over a long period of time can do a few things to make it easy for the students to work:

• The biggest student complaint about group work is that it takes a lot of time and planning. Let students know about the project at the beginning of the term, so they can plan their time.
• At the outset, provide group guidelines and your expectations.
• Monitor the groups periodically to make sure they are functioning effectively.
• If the project is to be completed outside of class, it can be difficult to find common times to meet and to find a room. Some faculty members provide in-class time for groups to meet. Others help students find rooms to meet in.

Forming the group

• Forming the group. Should students form their own groups or should they be assigned? Most people prefer to choose whom they work with. However, many students say they welcome both kinds of group experiences, appreciating the value of hearing the perspective of another discipline, or another background.
• Size. Appropriate group size depends on the nature of the project.  If the group is small and one person drops out, can the remaining people do the work? If the group is large, will more time be spent on organizing themselves and trying to make decisions than on productive work?
• Resources for students. Provide a complete class list, with current email addresses. (Students like having this anyway so they can work together even if group projects are not assigned.)
• Students that don't fit. You might anticipate your response to the one or two exceptions of a person who really has difficulty in the group. After trying various remedies, is there an out—can this person join another group? work on an independent project?

Organizing the work

Unless part of the goal is to give people experience in the process of goal-setting, assigning tasks, and so forth, the group will be able to work more efficiently if they are provided with some of the following:

• Clear goals. Why are they working together? What are they expected to accomplish?
• Ways to break down the task into smaller units
• Ways to allocate responsibility for different aspects of the work
• Ways to allocate organizational responsibility
• A sample time line with suggested check points for stages of work to be completed

Caveat: Setting up effective small group assignments can take a lot of faculty time and organization.

Getting Started

• Groups work best if people know each others' names and a bit of their background and experience, especially those parts that are related to the task at hand. Take time to introduce yourselves.
• Be sure to include everyone when considering ideas about how to proceed as a group. Some may never have participated in a small group in an academic setting. Others may have ideas about what works well. Allow time for people to express their inexperience and hesitations as well as their experience with group projects.
• Most groups select a leader early on, especially if the work is a long-term project. Other options for leadership in long-term projects include taking turns for different works or different phases of the work.
• Everyone needs to discuss and clarify the goals of the group's work. Go around the group and hear everyone's ideas (before discussing them) or encourage divergent thinking by brainstorming. If you miss this step, trouble may develop part way through the project. Even though time is scarce and you may have a big project ahead of you, groups may take some time to settle in to work. If you anticipate this, you may not be too impatient with the time it takes to get started.

Organizing the Work

• Break up big jobs into smaller pieces. Allocate responsibility for different parts of the group project to different individuals or teams. Do not forget to account for assembling pieces into final form.
• Develop a timeline, including who will do what, in what format, by when. Include time at the end for assembling pieces into final form. (This may take longer than you anticipate.) At the end of each meeting, individuals should review what work they expect to complete by the following session.

Understanding and Managing Group Processes

• Groups work best if everyone has a chance to make strong contributions to the discussion at meetings and to the work of the group project.
• At the beginning of each meeting, decide what you expect to have accomplished by the end of the meeting.
• Someone (probably not the leader) should write all ideas, as they are suggested, on the board, a collaborative document, or on large sheets of paper. Designate a recorder of the group's decisions. Allocate responsibility for group process (especially if you do not have a fixed leader) such as a time manager for meetings and someone who periodically says that it is time to see how things are going (see below).
• What leadership structure does the group want? One designated leader? rotating leaders? separately assigned roles?
• Are any more ground rules needed, such as starting meetings on time, kinds of interruptions allowed, and so forth?
• Is everyone contributing to discussions? Can discussions be managed differently so all can participate? Are people listening to each other and allowing for different kinds of contributions?
• Are all members accomplishing the work expected of them? Is there anything group members can do to help those experiencing difficulty?
• Are there disagreements or difficulties within the group that need to be addressed? (Is someone dominating? Is someone left out?)
• Is outside help needed to solve any problems?
• Is everyone enjoying the work?

Including Everyone and Their Ideas

Groups work best if everyone is included and everyone has a chance to contribute ideas. The group's task may seem overwhelming to some people, and they may have no idea how to go about accomplishing it. To others, the direction the project should take may seem obvious. The job of the group is to break down the work into chunks, and to allow everyone to contribute. The direction that seems obvious to some may turn out not to be so obvious after all. In any event, it will surely be improved as a result of some creative modification.

Encouraging Ideas

The goal is to produce as many ideas as possible in a short time without evaluating them. All ideas are carefully listened to but not commented on and are usually written on the board or large sheets of paper so everyone can see them, and so they don't get forgotten or lost. Take turns by going around the group—hear from everyone, one by one.

One specific method is to generate ideas through brainstorming. People mention ideas in any order (without others' commenting, disagreeing or asking too many questions). The advantage of brainstorming is that ideas do not become closely associated with the individuals who suggested them. This process encourages creative thinking, if it is not rushed and if all ideas are written down (and therefore, for the time-being, accepted). A disadvantage: when ideas are suggested quickly, it is more difficult for shy participants or for those who are not speaking their native language. One approach is to begin by brainstorming and then go around the group in a more structured way asking each person to add to the list.

Examples of what to say:

• Why don't we take a minute or two for each of us to present our views?
• Let's get all our ideas out before evaluating them. We'll clarify them before we organize or evaluate them.
• We'll discuss all these ideas after we hear what everyone thinks.
• You don't have to agree with her, but let her finish.
• Let's spend a few more minutes to see if there are any possibilities we haven't thought of, no matter how unlikely they seem.

Group Leadership

• The leader is responsible for seeing that the work is organized so that it will get done. The leader is also responsible for understanding and managing group interactions so that the atmosphere is positive.
• The leader must encourage everyone's contributions with an eye to accomplishing the work. To do this, the leader must observe how the group's process is working. (Is the group moving too quickly, leaving some people behind? Is it time to shift the focus to another aspect of the task?)
• The leader must encourage group interactions and maintain a positive atmosphere. To do this the leader must observe the way people are participating as well as be aware of feelings communicated non-verbally. (Are individuals' contributions listened to and appreciated by others? Are people arguing with other people, rather than disagreeing with their ideas? Are some people withdrawn or annoyed?)
• The leader must anticipate what information, materials or other resources the group needs as it works.
• The leader is responsible for beginning and ending on time. The leader must also organize practical support, such as the room, chalk, markers, food, breaks.

(Note: In addition to all this, the leader must take part in thc discussion and participate otherwise as a group member. At these times, the leader must be careful to step aside from the role of leader and signal participation as an equal, not a dominant voice.)

Concerns of Individuals That May Affect Their Participation

• How do I fit in? Will others listen to me? Am I the only one who doesn't know everyone else? How can I work with people with such different backgrounds and expericnce?
• Who will make the decisions? How much influence can I have?
• What do I have to offer to the group? Does everyone know more than I do? Does anyone know anything, or will I have to do most of the work myself?

Characteristics of a Group that is Performing Effectively

• All members have a chance to express themselves and to influence the group's decisions. All contributions are listened to carefully, and strong points acknowledged. Everyone realizes that the job could not be done without the cooperation and contribution of everyone else.
• Differences are dealt with directly with the person or people involved. The group identifies all disagreements, hears everyone's views and tries to come to an agreement that makes sense to everyone. Even when a group decision is not liked by someone, that person will follow through on it with the group.
• The group encourages everyone to take responsibility, and hard work is recognized. When things are not going well, everyone makes an effort to help each other. There is a shared sense of pride and accomplishment.

Focusing on a Direction

After a large number of ideas have been generated and listed (e.g. on the board), the group can categorize and examine them. Then the group should agree on a process for choosing from among the ideas. Advantages and disadvantages of different plans can be listed and then voted on. Some possibilities can be eliminated through a straw vote (each group member could have 2 or 3 votes). Or all group members could vote for their first, second, and third choices. Alternatively, criteria for a successful plan can be listed, and different alternatives can be voted on based on the criteria, one by one.

Categorizing and evaluating ideas

• We have about 20 ideas here. Can we sort them into a few general categories?
• When we evaluate each others' ideas, can we mention some positive aspects before expressing concerns?
• Could you give us an example of what you mean?
• Who has dealt with this kind of problem before?
• What are the pluses of that approach? The minuses?
• We have two basic choices. Let's brainstorm. First let's look at the advantages of the first choice, then the disadvantages.
• Let's try ranking these ideas in priority order. The group should try to come to an agreement that makes sense to everyone.

Making a decision

After everyone's views are heard and all points of agreement and disagreement are identified, the group should try to arrive at an agreement that makes sense to everyone.

• There seems to be some agreement here. Is there anyone who couldn't live with solution #2?
• Are there any objections to going that way?
• You still seem to have worries about this solution. Is there anything that could be added or taken away to make it more acceptable? We're doing fine. We've agreed on a great deal. Let's stay with this and see if we can work this last issue through.
• It looks as if there are still some major points of disagreement. Can we go back and define what those issues are and work on them rather than forcing a decision now.

How People Function in Groups

If a group is functioning well, work is getting done and constructive group processes are creating a positive atmosphere. In good groups the individuals may contribute differently at different times. They cooperate and human relationships are respected. This may happen automatically or individuals, at different times, can make it their job to maintain the atmospbere and human aspects of the group.

Roles That Contribute to the Work

Initiating —taking the initiative, at any time; for example, convening the group, suggesting procedures, changing direction, providing new energy and ideas. (How about if we.... What would happen if... ?)

Seeking information or opinions —requesting facts, preferences, suggestions and ideas. (Could you say a little more about... Would you say this is a more workable idea than that?)

Giving information or opinions —providing facts, data, information from research or experience. (ln my experience I have seen... May I tell you what I found out about...? )

Questioning —stepping back from what is happening and challenging the group or asking other specific questions about the task. (Are we assuming that... ? Would the consequence of this be... ?)

Clarifying —interpreting ideas or suggestions, clearing up confusions, defining terms or asking others to clarify. This role can relate different contributions from different people, and link up ideas that seem unconnected. (lt seems that you are saying... Doesn't this relate to what [name] was saying earlier?)

Summarizing —putting contributions into a pattern, while adding no new information. This role is important if a group gets stuck. Some groups officially appoint a summarizer for this potentially powerful and influential role. (If we take all these pieces and put them together... Here's what I think we have agreed upon so far... Here are our areas of disagreement...)

Roles That Contribute to the Atmosphere

Supporting —remembering others' remarks, being encouraging and responsive to others. Creating a warm, encouraging atmosphere, and making people feel they belong helps the group handle stresses and strains. People can gesture, smile, and make eye-contact without saying a word. Some silence can be supportive for people who are not native speakers of English by allowing them a chance to get into discussion. (I understand what you are getting at...As [name] was just saying...)

Observing —noticing the dynamics of the group and commenting. Asking if others agree or if they see things differently can be an effective way to identify problems as they arise. (We seem to be stuck... Maybe we are done for now, we are all worn out... As I see it, what happened just a minute ago.. Do you agree?)

Mediating —recognizing disagreements and figuring out what is behind the differences. When people focus on real differences, that may lead to striking a balance or devising ways to accommodate different values, views, and approaches. (I think the two of you are coming at this from completely different points of view... Wait a minute. This is how [name/ sees the problem. Can you see why she may see it differently?)

Reconciling —reconciling disagreements. Emphasizing shared views among members can reduce tension. (The goal of these two strategies is the same, only the means are different… Is there anything that these positions have in common?)

Compromising —yielding a position or modifying opinions. This can help move the group forward. (Everyone else seems to agree on this, so I'll go along with... I think if I give in on this, we could reach a decision.)

Making a personal comment —occasional personal comments, especially as they relate to the work. Statements about one's life are often discouraged in professional settings; this may be a mistake since personal comments can strengthen a group by making people feel human with a lot in common.

Humor —funny remarks or good-natured comments. Humor, if it is genuinely good-natured and not cutting, can be very effective in relieving tension or dealing with participants who dominate or put down others. Humor can be used constructively to make the work more acceptable by providing a welcome break from concentration. It may also bring people closer together, and make the work more fun.

All the positive roles turn the group into an energetic, productive enterprise. People who have not reflected on these roles may misunderstand the motives and actions of people working in a group. If someone other than the leader initiates ideas, some may view it as an attempt to take power from the leader. Asking questions may similarly be seen as defying authority or slowing down the work of the group. Personal anecdotes may be thought of as trivializing the discussion. Leaders who understand the importance of these many roles can allow and encourage them as positive contributions to group dynamics. Roles that contribute to the work give the group a sense of direction and achievement. Roles contributing to the human atmosphere give the group a sense of cooperation and goodwill.

Some Common Problems (and Some Solutions)

Floundering —While people are still figuring out the work and their role in the group, the group may experience false starts and circular discussions, and decisions may be postponed.

• Here's my understanding of what we are trying to accomplish... Do we all agree?
• What would help us move forward: data? resources?
• Let's take a few minutes to hear everyone's suggestions about how this process might work better and what we should do next.

Dominating or reluctant participants —Some people might take more than their share of the discussion by talking too often, asserting superiority, telling lengthy stories, or not letting others finish. Sometimes humor can be used to discourage people from dominating. Others may rarely speak because they have difficulty getting in the conversation. Sometimes looking at people who don't speak can be a non-verbal way to include them. Asking quiet participants for their thoughts outside the group may lead to their participation within the group.

• How would we state the general problem? Could we leave out the details for a moment? Could we structure this part of the discussion by taking turns and hearing what everyone has to say?
• Let's check in with each other about how the process is working: Is everyone contributing to discussions? Can discussions be managed differently so we can all participate? Are we all listening to each other?

Digressions and tangents —Too many interesting side stories can be obstacles to group progress. It may be time to take another look at the agenda and assign time estimates to items. Try to summarize where the discussion was before the digression. Or, consider whether there is something making the topic easy to avoid.

• Can we go back to where we were a few minutes ago and see what we were trying to do ?
• Is there something about the topic itself that makes it difficult to stick to?

Getting Stuck —Too little progress can get a group down. It may be time for a short break or a change in focus. However, occasionally when a group feels that it is not making progress, a solution emerges if people simply stay with the issue.

• What are the things that are helping us solve this problem? What's preventing us from solving this problem?
• I understand that some of you doubt whether anything new will happen if we work on this problem. Are we willing to give it a try for the next fifteen minutes?

Rush to work —Usually one person in the group is less patient and more action-oriented than the others. This person may reach a decision more quickly than the others and then pressure the group to move on before others are ready.

• Are we all ready-to make a decision on this?
• What needs to be done before we can move ahead?
• Let's go around and see where everyone stands on this.

Feuds —Occasionally a conflict (having nothing to do with the subject of the group) carries over into the group and impedes its work. It may be that feuding parties will not be able to focus until the viewpoint of each is heard. Then they must be encouraged to lay the issue aside.

• So, what you are saying is... And what you are saying is... How is that related to the work here?
• If we continue too long on this, we won't be able to get our work done. Can we agree on a time limit and then go on?

For more information...

James Lang, " Why Students Hate Group Projects (and How to Change That) ," The Chronicle of Higher Education (17 June 2022).

Hodges, Linda C. " Contemporary Issues in Group Learning in Undergraduate Science Classrooms: A Perspective from Student Engagement ,"  CBE—Life Sciences Education  17.2 (2018): es3.

• Designing Your Course
• A Teaching Timeline: From Pre-Term Planning to the Final Exam
• The First Day of Class
• Group Agreements
• Classroom Debate
• Flipped Classrooms
• Leading Discussions
• Polling & Clickers
• Problem Solving in STEM
• Teaching with Cases
• Engaged Scholarship
• Devices in the Classroom
• Beyond the Classroom
• On Professionalism
• Getting Feedback
• Equitable & Inclusive Teaching
• Advising and Mentoring
• Teaching and Your Career
• Teaching Remotely
• Tools and Platforms
• The Science of Learning
• Bok Publications
• Other Resources Around Campus

Ideas for Great Group Work

Many students, particularly if they are new to college, don’t like group assignments and projects. They might say they “work better by themselves” and be wary of irresponsible members of their group dragging down their grade. Or they may feel group projects take too much time and slow down the progression of the class. This blog post by a student— 5 Reasons I Hate Group Projects —might sound familiar to many faculty assigning in-class group work and longer-term projects in their courses.

We all recognize that learning how to work effectively in groups is an essential skill that will be used by students in practically every career in the private sector or academia. But, with the hesitancy of students towards group work and how it might impact their grade, how do we make group in-class work, assignments, or long-term projects beneficial and even exciting to students?

The methods and ideas in this post have been compiled from Duke faculty who we have consulted with as part of our work in Learning Innovation or have participated in one of our programs. Also included are ideas from colleagues at other universities with whom we have talked at conferences and other venues about group work practices in their own classrooms.

Have clear goals and purpose

Students want to know why they are being assigned certain kinds of work – how it fits into the larger goals of the class and the overall assessment of their performance in the course. Make sure you explain your goals for assigning in-class group work or projects in the course. You may wish to share:

• Information on the importance of developing skills in group work and how this benefits the students in the topics presented in the course.
• Examples of how this type of group work will be used in the discipline outside of the classroom.
• How the assignment or project benefits from multiple perspectives or dividing the work among more than one person.

Some faculty give students the option to come to a consensus on the specifics of how group work will count in the course, within certain parameters. This can help students feel they have some control over their own learning process and and can put less emphasis on grades and more on the importance of learning the skills of working in groups.

Choose the right assignment

Some in-class activities, short assignments or projects are not suitable for working in groups. To ensure student success, choose the right class activity or assignment for groups.

• Would the workload of the project or activity require more than one person to finish it properly?
• Is this something where multiple perspectives create a greater whole?
• Does this draw on knowledge and skills that are spread out among the students?
• Will the group process used in the activity or project give students a tangible benefit to learning in and engagement with the course?

Help students learn the skills of working in groups

Students in your course may have never been asked to work in groups before. If they have worked in groups in previous courses, they may have had bad experiences that color their reaction to group work in your course. They may have never had the resources and support to make group assignments and projects a compelling experience.

One of the most important things you can do as an instructor is to consider all of the skills that go into working in groups and to design your activities and assignments with an eye towards developing those skills.

In a group assignment, students may be asked to break down a project into steps, plan strategy, organize their time, and coordinate efforts in the context of a group of people they may have never met before.

Consider these ideas to help your students learn group work skills in your course.

• Give a short survey to your class about their previous work in groups to gauge areas where they might need help: ask about what they liked best and least about group work, dynamics of groups they have worked in, time management, communication skills or other areas important in the assignment you are designing.
• Allow time in class for students in groups to get to know each other. This can be a simple as brief introductions, an in-class active learning activity or the drafting of a team charter.
• Based on the activity you are designing and the skills that would be involved in working as a group, assemble some links to web resources that students can draw on for more information, such as sites that explain how to delegate and share responsibilities, conflict resolution, or planning a project and time management. You can also address these issues in class with the students.
• Have a plan for clarifying questions or possible problems that may emerge with an assignment or project.   Are there ways you can ask questions or get draft material to spot areas where students are having difficulty understanding the assignment or having difficulty with group dynamics that might impact the work later?

Designing the assignment or project

The actual design of the class activity or project can help the students transition into group work processes and gain confidence with the skills involved in group dynamics.   When designing your assignment, consider these ideas.

• Break the assignment down into steps or stages to help students become familiar with the process of planning the project as a group.
• Suggest roles for participants in each group to encourage building expertise and expertise and to illustrate ways to divide responsibility for the work.
• Use interim drafts for longer projects to help students manage their time and goals and spot early problems with group projects.
• Limit their resources (such as giving them material to work with or certain subsets of information) to encourage more close cooperation.
• Encourage diversity in groups to spread experience and skill levels and to get students to work with colleagues in the course who they may not know.

Promote individual responsibility

Students always worry about how the performance of other students in a group project might impact their grade. A way to allay those fears is to build individual responsibility into both the course grade and the logistics of group work.

• Build “slack days” into the course. Allow a prearranged number of days when individuals can step away from group work to focus on other classes or campus events. Individual students claim “slack days” in advance, informing both the members of their group and the instructor. Encourage students to work out how the group members will deal with conflicting dates if more than one student in a group wants to claim the same dates.
• Combine a group grade with an individual grade for independent write-ups, journal entries, and reflections.
• Have students assess their fellow group members. Teammates is an online application that can automate this process.
• If you are having students assume roles in group class activities and projects, have them change roles in different parts of the class or project so that one student isn’t “stuck” doing one task for the group.

Gather feedback

To improve your group class activities and assignments, gather reflective feedback from students on what is and isn’t working. You can also share good feedback with future classes to help them understand the value of the activities they’re working on in groups.

• For in-class activities, have students jot down thoughts at the end of class on a notecard for you to review.
• At the end of a larger project, or at key points when you have them submit drafts, ask the students for an “assignment wrapper”—a short reflection on the assignment or short answers to a series of questions.

Further resources

Information for faculty

Best practices for designing group projects (Eberly Center, Carnegie Mellon)

Building Teamwork Process Skills in Students (Shannon Ciston, UC Berkeley)

Working with Student Teams   (Bart Pursel, Penn State)

Barkley, E.F., Cross, K.P., and Major, C.H. (2005). Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R., & Smith, K. (1998). Active learning: Cooperation in the college classroom. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.

Thompson, L.L. (2004). Making the team: A guide for managers. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.

Information for students

10 tips for working effectively in groups (Vancouver Island University Learning Matters)

Teamwork skills: being an effective group member (University of Waterloo Centre for Teaching Excellence)

5 ways to survive a group project in college (HBCU Lifestyle)

Group project tips for online courses (Drexel Online)

Group Writing (Writing Center at UNC-Chapel Hill)

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How to teach using group assignments: the 7 step formula for fair and effective team assessment

2020, How to teach using group assignments: the 7 step formula for fair and effective team assessment

The benefits of collaborative learning have long been asserted. Group assignments have been deployed by teachers in higher education to realise several benefits such as enabling students to undertake more demanding academic challenges. However, there is debate about the validity and fairness of group assignments. Furthermore, educational and professional accreditation agencies increasingly view academic grades determined from group assignments with suspicion. Does this student deserve the academic qualification they have been awarded when a significant proportion of their academic credit has arisen from group work? What level of teamwork capabilities has this graduate actually demonstrated? Meanwhile, students often loathe the experience and prospect of group assignments. Fair-minded students wonder why the freeloaders and bullies in their team should get the same academic grade. Ambitious students wonder if they will receive recognition for the extra effort and leadership they have contributed. Perhaps they should prioritise their efforts elsewhere? Other students wonder how they could improve both their own and their teammates’ contribution to the teamwork and leadership processes required for success. Teacher assign students to groups and hope that their students will develop the teamwork capabilities students need for academic and professional success. To respond to these challenges teammate peer assessment is becoming recognized as contributing to fairer academic results and more valid assessments. Furthermore, when combined with timely peer feedback, students working on group assignments can adapt their behaviour to deliver better contributions and achieve better academic results for both their team and themself. Students also learn and demonstrate measured capabilities in teamwork, leadership, communication and project management that are valued by the workplace and professions, improve their success in future academic group assignments, and better prepare themselves for leadership roles within the fourth industrial revolution. This book is intended as a practical handbook and reference guide for - Teachers who wish to improve the validity and fairness of the group assignments they currently use with their students - Teachers who wish to introduce or redesign their group assignments in a manner that maximises the many benefits for students that can emerge from such assignments - Teachers who use contemporary teaching methods such as team-based learning and the flipped classroom who wish to improve their processes of teammate peer assessment and feedback - Teaching and learning advisors who wish to understand the factors relevant to supporting teachers in their use of group assignments and peer assessment - Programme and academic directors concerned with establishing academic policy for student group work and peer assessment. - Teaching and learning technologists who wish to understand the factors relevant to the implementation of digital platforms that support teachers’ and students’ adoption of teammate peer assessment - Institutional researchers who wish to use the results of teammate peer assessments in their institution to analyse issues such as student success, retention and failure

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Group work as a form of cooperative learning has been shown to promote learning in many aspects. However, challenges may arise for group work when members have different expectations and little to no familiarity with each other. This action research was to investigate how well the online peer assessment activities (in the form of Moodle workshops) implemented in two different undergraduate courses would promote individual contribution in a subsequent group project and enhance individual achievements. Online peer assessment activities were introduced in Cohort 2020-21 with the purpose to enhance team collaboration in academically heterogenous groups. The assessment scores of Cohort 2020-21 (N = 70) were compared with those of the previous cohort (N = 69), which had no peer assessment activities, using independent-samples t-tests. Additionally, students’ opinions about the online peer assessments were identified from the qualitative comments of the teaching-and-learning evaluations of one course and the focus group discussion of another course. Findings showed that students who had participated in online peer assessment activities were perceived by their peers to have better collaboration in the group work than those who had not. However, no evidence suggested that better team collaboration would associate with higher achievements in the group project, nor would the implementation of online scaffolded peer-assessed activities directly connect to higher academic performance in the individual final assessment. How peer assessment activities could be adjusted using the functions of Moodle workshops to cater for the needs of students are discussed.

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Healey, MJ, Matthews, H., Livingstone, I. and Foster I.(1997)'Learning in small groups in university geography courses: Designing a core module around group projects', Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 20, 167-180 Key words: Peer assessment; self assessment; assessing group work

Auli A Guilland , Jarmo Heinonen

Education should be developed to better correspond to the needs of real-life situations and be the focal point of teaching and learning, thus enabling students to develop appropriate competencies for working life. In the 21st century, knowledge is no longer power! Being able to access information, apply and transfer it to problems and issues at hand is of greater value. Educational programmes at all levels should consider-and whenever possible, reflect-authentic real life applications. Particularly on the post-secondary level, a key function of teaching and learning today is preparation of students for careers and the rapidly evolving work place of the 21 century. Assessment can at its best be seen as an integral part and an ongoing parallel process to teaching and learning. Well adapted, tested assessment tools can assure reliable and valid information. This paper presents a study that aimed to identify the specific requirements and user needs concerning assessment in the Learning by Developing pedagogical environment. The study was based on a triangulation of three sources: literature, interview study and workshop integrating teachers, students and employers. Six teachers, students and employers participated in the interviews and eight teachers in the workshop. All of them participated in the same study unit organised in Laurea University of Applied Sciences in spring 2013. The results clearly show the need to develop assessment tools and methods to better understand the competencies developed through the group assignment, the teamwork efficiency as well as the individual learning process and outcome.

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LX / Design a group assignment

Design a group assignment

This resource offers suggestions for designing group assignments which students will finding motivating. We’ll explore how to make the assignment meaningful, easily allocated into sub-tasks, relevant to learning outcomes and achievable.

One of the most crucial aspects of group work is the task set for the group. If students engage in their task, they will be more likely to be motivated to be an active participant in group work and develop new skills. Unfortunately, many students find their tasks to be inappropriate or too difficult for group work and thus lack motivation to work collectively on the assignment. In fact, many students view their assignments as little more than an individual assessment task applied to a group of students to reduce marking.

Develop a motivating group assignment

To develop a motivating group assignment, first you need to understand what students look for in a collaborative assessment task. Understanding students’ expectations is important because it allows you to see where your task can be aligned with their expectations. It also allows you to identify where alignment may not be possible. These differences can then be discussed with the students so they understand your reasons. Students will always work better when they understand why they are being assessed in a particular way.

There are four important factors which students look for in a group assignment.

1. A meaningful assignment

Students are not only motivated by the mark they will receive for their assignment. They are also motivated by the work they will produce.

Students often report that their most motivating group assignments are those which are “client-based”. These are assignments where the groups enact the role of consultant and work on an issue which has been identified by the client (in most instances, an organisation). Groups usually produce some form of written report (or in some disciplines a product) which is assessed by the lecturer. Occasionally, the client is also invited to assess the group’s output. Students are particularly motivated when they know that the client will be viewing and assessing the work.

Designing “client-based” group assignments are becoming increasingly popular in university settings. Many organisations are interested in participating in such projects because of the insights and perspectives generated by the project groups. Non-profit organisations, with their limited resources, are often keen to become clients and students are particularly motivated to help such organisations.

Some lecturers are even beginning to view the university as a client and are designing group assignments which address particular concerns faced by students and staff.

2. Easily allocated into sub-tasks

Student groups almost always divide up their task and allocate different sections to each member. Even if you do not want the assignment to be broken up, they probably will (or at least attempt to do so).

Students argue that this is the only strategy to use when they are members of 3 or 4 other groups. Unfortunately, most groups struggle when they attempt to divide up the task because it has not been designed to be broken up. It has been designed to be completed collectively. The rationale behind this strategy is that students learn group skills by closely working together on every aspect of the task.

While this strategy can be effective, it usually takes much longer than one semester for it to work. Furthermore, it usually requires that members work together full-time on the one task. With students working part-time, on more than one task, in more than one group, it is in many ways an unrealistic strategy. There is just not enough time for students to work together on every issue.

Knowing that students divide up their group task, many lecturers are beginning to devise group assignments with this in mind. In these assignments, each group member is required to do a piece of work. These individual pieces are then combined together to form a completed group product (there is usually an introduction and conclusion which the group write together to bring the individual sections together).

Students are motivated by these types of assignments because:

• they are less dependent on each other
• they don’t have to make joint decisions on each and every issue,
• there are fewer disagreements
• they have the opportunity to ‘shine’ as well as contribute to the group

Lecturers also benefit greatly from the task design due to:

• fewer complaints about free-riding (because each member’s work is identifiable)
• greater enthusiasm for group work
• less conflict in groups
• greater peer support

As with any innovation, there are of course critics to the approach. The main criticism is that students are not working in ‘fully fledged’ groups and, as such, fail to develop a broad range of skills. While this may be true, proponents argue that it is far better to learn some skills well than many at only a shallow level. This approach works on the rationale that students should not be expected to learn too many skills in a semester, but rather focus on a number of key skills (eg. coordination, peer support, accountability).

Proponents also argue that the notion of the fully fledged group rarely exists in industry and that their approach more accurately mirrors the “real world”. In many organisations, team members often work independently on individual pieces and bring them together to form the product (or the collection of group products). The aim of their approach is to reflect this style of team work and to teach students how to operate under such a system.

It is understandable that many group assignments must be collaborative and result in a single product. For these assignments, it is important to remember that students will try to split the task up. If the task can be logically divided, it may be advisable to help them do so – this will save the group valuable time. If the task cannot be broken apart, this should be clearly explained to students before they try to do so.

3. Relevant to learning outcomes

As mentioned earlier, many students are sceptical about collaborative assessment tasks and often view them merely as a way of reducing marking. For students to be motivated to participate in group assignments, they often need to see the tangible benefits of doing so. This is best achieved by designing group assignments which are closely aligned to the learning objectives of the subject.

When designing collaborative assignments, it is important to consider what knowledge, skills and abilities you want your students to learn through group work. While there will be a generic set applicable to most group assignments (eg. learning to communicate and cooperate with peers), there will also be a specific set which need to be geared to the assignment. For example, what type of interpersonal communication skills do you want your students to learn? Do you want them to learn to communicate face-to-face or also to learn computer mediated communication? If the latter is important, then establishing an “on-line” group task (eg. an on-line debate or discussion group) would be appropriate.

All too often, lectures design group assignments with little reference to the learning objectives and this can create confusion for students. For example, students often fail to see how requirements such as communicating “on-line” or making a group presentation are relevant to their learning outcomes. Whilst the objective may be clear to the lecturer, students often have little idea. It is therefore important that the objectives of the group assignment are  explicitly  made known to students. This is best achieved through a well structured subject outline that breaks down the group assignment into its sub-components and links each component to a key learning objective.

4. An achievable assignment

When designing an appropriate group assignment, it is also important to set a task which can realistically be achieved by students within the specified time frame. Whilst the task may be meaningful and challenging, it can become too time consuming and overwhelming for students. This is particularly the case when students are doing equally challenging group assignments in their other subjects. Students often complain that many of their difficulties arise from the multiple group assignments they are forced to do each semester and how many lecturers are either insensitive or oblivious to this fact. T

he unfortunate result is that students become disillusioned with their group assignments and tend to apply themselves less. This usually results in a decrease in learning, motivation and output quality and an increase in group related problems such as conflict and the withdrawal of effort. To help design a realistically achievable task, it may therefore be worth ‘standing back’ and viewing the group assignment from the student’s perspective.

Things to consider

• Invite the client to a class or classes throughout the semester
• Restrict students from contacting the clients whenever they choose
• Provide samples of work completed by groups in previous years.
• Discuss how groups, particularly those who have done well in previous years, have gone about completing their assignment
• If you are having difficulties finding a real client, design your group assignment around a mock client (eg. a hypothetical client or a client from a previous year)

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Designing Peer and Group Assignments for Online Courses

Audrey Wick is an English professor at Blinn College in central Texas

Writing skills are important for college students at any stage. Whether they are in a writing-intensive course or simply using their skills to navigate a traditional course, strength in written communication will help students be successful, lifelong learners.

For instructors, one step toward that success is designing peer and/or group assignments to help students develop these important skills. But when instructors themselves face uncertainty of student population and modality, how can they effectively plan for these types of assignments?

Redefine What Constitutes “Group” Assignments

In terms of traditional pedagogical thinking, “group” assignments generally mean three or more students working in collaboration toward a singular goal. But collaboration can occur in pairs as well. Often, working with one other individual can still help students practice important skills of planning, drafting and revision. When courses are small or retention becomes an issue, pairing students who are active and engaged in the class can help ensure that no one goes missing-in-action for the duration of an assignment.

Also, by keeping groups small, whether through pairs or not, assignments can often be accomplished in a much shorter amount of time. For instance, in the English environment, peer editing is streamlined through the use of pairing rather than trying to accomplish this in small groups. For those instructors who want more students to contribute to the assignment, pairing can happen more than once.

When peer editing , I frequently pair students—and then pair them again. That way, they get more than one perspective in feedback but are only focused on providing that in one-on-one settings. This keeps the assignment manageable for them to complete as well as for me, as the instructor, to track.

Avoid the Pitfall of Expecting a Face-to-Face Result When Online

When assignments are adapted to the online learning environment , instructors should not try to—necessarily—translate a face-to-face project into a digital application. That’s because organic parts of the process like brainstorming may not work synergistically online.

Nonetheless, if an instructor gives the group a starting point and direct guidance for the end goals (think: due date, submission format, required length, research requirements, etc.), this will take the guesswork out of the initial group work and help the students work more effectively.

Let Existing Technology Be Assistive

There is no need to reinvent writing process stages or try to build digital assignments from the ground up. Instead, tap into existing platforms at your institution or through your textbook publisher in order to create effective group assignments that work.

Many textbooks have digital components, companion websites, assistive project arms and more. For instance, writing instructors have several options for programs students can use for electronic portfolios, document sharing and peer editing. The technology here can connect students in digital pairs and groups, giving them the flexibility of space and time to complete the assignments collaboratively in a fully online environment.

Don’t Overlook Institutional Resources

Does your college have a library, learning lab, tutoring center or campus computer technicians that are student-facing? Likely your institution already has tools that you can use in creating and managing peer and group assignments.

For starters, speak with librarians at your institution, or research existing digital tools available through the library page. Many have how-to videos, style guides, plagiarism tutorials and more. Link these through your digital classroom or import them to your Learning Management System. Viola! Tailored content at their fingertips!

You’re Ready!

Incorporating collaboration opportunities is one way instructors can help students feel more connected in their college classes, no matter what their digital landscape looks like.

Do you assign group work? If so, don’t miss the recording from our Empowered Educator webinar offering expert tips on making it equitable, meaningful and effective.

Related articles.

Center for Teaching Innovation

Ideas for group & collaborative assignments, why collaborative learning.

Collaborative learning can help

• students develop higher-level thinking, communication, self-management, and leadership skills
• explore a broad range of perspectives and provide opportunities for student voices/expression
• promote teamwork skills & ethics
• prepare students for real life social and employment situations
• increase student retention, self-esteem, and responsibility

Collaborative activities & tools

Group brainstorming & investigation in shared documents.

Have students work together to investigate or brainstorm a question in a shared document (e.g., structured Google doc, Google slide, or sheet) or an online whiteboard, and report their findings back to the class.

• Immediate view of contributions
• Synchronous & asynchronous group work
• Students can come back to the shared document to revise, re-use, or add information
• Google workspace (Google Docs, Sheets, Forms, & Slides)
• Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams)
• Cornell Box (document storage)
• Whiteboarding tools ( Zoom , JamBoard , Miro , Mural , etc.)

Considerations

• Sharing settings
• Global access
• Accessibility

Group discussions with video conferencing and chat

Ask students to post an answer to a question or share their thoughts about class content in the Zoom chat window (best for smaller classes). For large classes, ask students in Zoom breakout rooms to choose a group notetaker to post group discussion notes in the chat window after returning to the main class session.

You can also use a discussion board for asynchronous group work.

• Students can post their reflections in real time and read/share responses
• If group work is organized asynchronously, students can come back to the discussion board at their own time

Synchronous group work:

• Zoom Breakout rooms
• Microsoft Teams
• Canvas Conferences
• Canvas Group Discussions
• Ed Discussion
• Stable access to WiFi and its bandwidth
• Clear expectations about participation and pace for asynchronous discussion boards
• Monitoring discussion boards

Group projects: creation

Students retrieve and synthesize information by collaborating with their peers to create something new: a written piece, an infographic, a piece of code, or students collectively respond to sample test questions.

• Group projects may benefit from features offered by shared online space (ability to chat, do video conferencing, share files and links, post announcements and discussion threads, and build content)
• Canvas groups with all available tools

Setting up groups and group projects for success may require the following steps:

• Introduce group or peer work early in the semester
• Establishing ground rules for participation
• Plan for each step of group work
• Explain how groups will function and the grading

Peer learning, critiquing, giving feedback

Students submit their first draft of an essay, research proposal, or a design, and the submitted work is distributed for peer review. If students work on a project in teams, they can check in with each other through a group member evaluation activity. Students can also build on each other’s knowledge and understanding of the topic in Zoom breakout room discussions or by sharing and responding in an online discussion board.

When providing feedback and critiquing, students have to apply their knowledge, problem-solving skills, and develop feedback literacy. Students also engage more deeply with the assignment requirements and/or the rubric.

• FeedbackFruits Peer Review and Group Member Evaluation
• Canvas Peer Review
• Turnitin PeerMark
• Zoom breakout rooms
• Canvas discussions, and other discussion tools
• Peer review is a multistep activity and may require careful design and consideration of requirements to help students achieve the learning outcomes. The assignment requirements will inform which platform is best to use and the best settings for the assignment
• We advise making the first peer review activity a low-stakes assignment for the students to get used to the platform and the flow.
• A carefully written rubric helps guide students through the process of giving feedback and yields more constructive feedback.
• It helps when the timing for the activity is generous, so students have enough time to first submit their work and then give feedback.

Group reflection & social annotation activities

Students can annotate, highlight, discuss, and collaborate on text documents, images, video, audio, and websites. Instructors can post guiding questions for students to respond to, and allow students to post their own questions to be answered by peers. This is a great reading activity leading up to an inperson discussion.

• Posing discussion topics and/or questions for students to answer as they read a paper
• Students can collaboratively read and annotate synchronously and asynchronously
• Collaborative annotation helps students to acknowledge some parts of reading that they could have neglected otherwise
• Annotating in small groups
• FeedbackFruits
• Interactive Media (annotations on document, video, and audio)
• Providing students with thorough instructions
• These are all third-party tools, so the settings should be selected thoughtfully
• Accessibility (Perusall)

Group learning with polling and team competitions

Instructors can poll students while they are in breakout rooms using Poll Everywhere. This activity is great for checking understanding and peer learning activities, as students will be able to discuss solutions.

• Students can share screen in a breakout room and/or answer questions together
• This activity can be facilitated as a competition among teams
• Poll Everywhere competitions, surveys, and polls facilitated in breakout rooms
• Careful construction of questions for students
• Students may need to be taught how to answer online questions
• It requires appropriate internet connection and can experience delays in response summaries.

More information

• Group work & collaborative learning
• Collaboration tools
• Active learning
• Active learning in online teaching

Eberly Center

Teaching excellence & educational innovation, what are the benefits of group work.

“More hands make for lighter work.” “Two heads are better than one.” “The more the merrier.”

These adages speak to the potential groups have to be more productive, creative, and motivated than individuals on their own.

Benefits for students

Group projects can help students develop a host of skills that are increasingly important in the professional world (Caruso & Woolley, 2008; Mannix & Neale, 2005). Positive group experiences, moreover, have been shown to contribute to student learning, retention and overall college success (Astin, 1997; Tinto, 1998; National Survey of Student Engagement, 2006).

Properly structured, group projects can reinforce skills that are relevant to both group and individual work, including the ability to: 

• Break complex tasks into parts and steps
• Plan and manage time
• Refine understanding through discussion and explanation
• Give and receive feedback on performance
• Challenge assumptions
• Develop stronger communication skills.

Group projects can also help students develop skills specific to collaborative efforts, allowing students to...

• Tackle more complex problems than they could on their own.
• Delegate roles and responsibilities.
• Share diverse perspectives.
• Pool knowledge and skills.
• Hold one another (and be held) accountable.
• Receive social support and encouragement to take risks.
• Develop new approaches to resolving differences. 
• Establish a shared identity with other group members.
• Find effective peers to emulate.
• Develop their own voice and perspectives in relation to peers.

While the potential learning benefits of group work are significant, simply assigning group work is no guarantee that these goals will be achieved. In fact, group projects can – and often do – backfire badly when they are not designed , supervised , and assessed in a way that promotes meaningful teamwork and deep collaboration.

Benefits for instructors

Faculty can often assign more complex, authentic problems to groups of students than they could to individuals. Group work also introduces more unpredictability in teaching, since groups may approach tasks and solve problems in novel, interesting ways. This can be refreshing for instructors. Additionally, group assignments can be useful when there are a limited number of viable project topics to distribute among students. And they can reduce the number of final products instructors have to grade.

Whatever the benefits in terms of teaching, instructors should take care only to assign as group work tasks that truly fulfill the learning objectives of the course and lend themselves to collaboration. Instructors should also be aware that group projects can add work for faculty at different points in the semester and introduce its own grading complexities .

Astin, A. (1993). What matters in college? Four critical years revisited. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Caruso, H.M., & Wooley, A.W. (2008). Harnessing the power of emergent interdependence to promote diverse team collaboration. Diversity and Groups. 11, 245-266.

Mannix, E., & Neale, M.A. (2005). What differences make a difference? The promise and reality of diverse teams in organizations. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 6(2), 31-55.

National Survey of Student Engagement Report. (2006). http://nsse.iub.edu/NSSE_2006_Annual_Report/docs/NSSE_2006_Annual_Report.pdf .

Tinto, V. (1987). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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Teaching@Tufts

Supporting excellence in learning and teaching at Tufts University

Setting Up Group Assignments

This Q&A was adapted with permission from the book  Chalk Talk: E-advice from Jonas Chalk, Legendary College Teacher , edited by Donna M. Qualters and Miriam Rosalyn Diamond –

Dear Jonas,

Everyone’s talking about preparing students to work in teams in the workplace by doing more group activities in class . Last time I did this, it was a disaster! The division of labor in some groups became totally lopsided, because there were students who didn’t do anything. Also, I couldn’t tell which members of the group had done the work and which had been slackers. I agree that it’s important to give students some experience with group work, but how can I make it a more uniform, less chaotic experience?

Signed: Grappling with Group

Dear Grappling with Groups,

Group learning, cooperative learning, peer teaching, or any class activity involving more than two students, can lead to unpredictable mixtures of abilities and personalities. If group work is not properly planned, group dynamics can range across the spectrum from a harmonious cooperative learning experience to a dysfunctional group of quarreling students. Entire books have been written about teaching and collaborative learning, so a complete primer on this subject in a single column is not feasible. However, I can provide some basics for setting up student groups for success. Here are some pointers that I have collected from “Tools for Teaching” by Barbara Gross Davis.

Before the semester starts, look over your syllabus and figure out which part of your course is well-suited for group work. Don’t try to force fit group work on things that are better done individually. Problems that require discussion, different points of view, and division of labor to complete are good applications for groups. Like any assignment you give to students, group tasks should not be “busy work,” but achieving some integral part of the course objectives.

You’ll need to decide how groups will be formed. In small, upper-level classes where students probably know each other and have likely worked in groups previously, they can form their own groups after you establish a maximum group size. In larger classes or those where students may not have had much experience or simply don’t know each other, group selection could be done randomly or by having students submit 1-2 names of students they’d like to work with and use that as a start. Also see “Jonas on Teamwork in Class Projects”, 11/14/02.

Have groups submit written guidelines after their first meeting. You should ask each group to submit a proposal that details the responsibilities of each group member, deadlines for achieving certain milestones, and even mechanisms they plan to use to deal with problems in group dynamics.

Involve students in the group in assessing each other’s efforts. Felder and Fuller present a rubric for gaining input from team members and modifying individual grades within the group. (See “ Accounting for Individual Effort in Cooperative Learning Teams “).

• To avoid problems with “slackers” or “shirkers”, consider the following: Keep groups small; it’s harder to be a slacker in a group of three or four.
• Make sure that roles are well-defined in the proposal, and follow up on these roles during the mid-project evaluation sessions.
• Ensure that the group assignment has enough elements for a reasonable division of labor.
• Base a portion of the grading on individual effort, e.g., each week, assign a different member to report on the group’s activities for that week and evaluate each report.
• Suggest mechanisms for each group to deal with problem members, and have them detail this in their proposal. This is difficult since students usually don’t like to be perceived as “selling out” their peers, but they need to understand the idea of responsibility to the team and the project. (A subsequent column will address methods to help students negotiate the group dynamics.)

Finally, a competition for the best group product (presentation, paper, scale model, etc.) can often fuel motivation.

Group learning has the potential to be a powerful learning and teaching tool. However, it does require investment by the instructor to organize and keep tabs on each group’s progress.

Good luck, Jonas

During group assignments, conduct one or two “check point” evaluations with each group, during which you should ask them to discuss the following questions:

• What has each member done to help the group?
• What could each member do from this point forward to make the group even better?

Also, at the end of the project, students should fill out an assessment form regarding the effectiveness of the group and its members.

This content was adapted with permission from the book  Chalk Talk: E-advice from Jonas Chalk, Legendary College Teacher , edited by Donna M. Qualters and Miriam Rosalyn Diamond.

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15 Collaborating Online: Digital Strategies for Group Work

Anthony T. Atkins

Much of what you do in school, on the job, and in your everyday life involves the ability to work well with others. [1] Here, in college, your teachers will ask you to collaborate or work together in a number of ways. For example, you may be paired with one person to complete an in-class assignment, or you may be required to work with a group of three or four of your classmates to complete a semester-long project. Collaborative activities and assignments may occur in a number of your classes (English, Business, History, and Political Science to name a few). You may work with non-profit organizations, for instance, where you and your classmates develop a newsletter or brochure, or you may compose a grant to help a local organization build a park near your neighborhood. Group assignments like these require you and your group members to work efficiently, and require everyone to contribute to the project equally. Your teachers are looking for how well you can manage tasks, orchestrate togetherness, and demonstrate that everyone can work together productively to complete a project as a team or a group. Even though working in groups can be challenging, the truth is that much of what you will do both here in college and on the job occurs as a group effort. Indeed, collaboration with others can be difficult. What follows are some productive technological alternatives to face-to-face collaboration. In this chapter of Writing Spaces you will learn more about:

• Assessing the project or task;
• Using technology to organize the project;
• Using technology to present the project.

Assessing the Project or Task

In this section we will consider the following questions:

• What does the project entail? What is its purpose?
• How long should the project take?
• How many group members are needed or required, and what should each one do?
• What will be each group member’s role?

Teachers or employers request a number of tasks or projects that require collaborating with others. Sometimes group tasks can last for one hour, and sometimes group tasks can last for several months (and sometimes even years, depending on the nature of the project and its purpose). For example, in a classroom, you might be asked to complete a quick group project within the fifty minute class period, or you may be asked to complete a month-long group project. Projects in a classroom are usually completed for a grade, whereby projects completed for an employer or businesses are evaluated as part of your job performance. Once you and your group members have been assigned a specific project, it is important to have a meeting to assess the project and all of its facets or components, and so you can get to know your group members.

Consider, for example, a group project (we’ll call this Project A) that requires four people to work together as a team to create a newsletter for a non-profit organization. You and your group members should begin by reviewing the components of the assignment and the project. Producing a newsletter can require designing a layout, conducting research, creating copy, gathering visuals, and collating, collecting, editing, and proofing the final product. In this type of scenario, the team will need to determine how best to delegate responsibilities to each member. For example, one person could design the layout and look of the newsletter, one or two people might be responsible for the research and content development, and another person on the team might manage the final production of the newsletter—including collating pieces and editing.

Once tasks are assigned and each group member knows her/his responsibilities, determine what technologies you and your group will need to facilitate the project collaboratively, and set deadlines for tasks. Deadlines and managing time is extremely important when working with groups. Make certain that everyone in the group is aware of deadlines and is confident that they can be met. It is not uncommon to fall behind schedule, but how you and your team members react to added challenges determines the success or failure of the project. Adjusting group duties and pitching in to help each other can reassert the team’s to complete the task.

In addition to working with a team of other students, sometimes students work with teachers or professors on individual projects—like an honor’s thesis or professor-driven independent projects. This example (we’ll call it Project B) references three separate honors projects directed/guided by the same teacher. Three students selected a range of general topics for their honors projects. Over the course of one semester, the honors projects required that each student write a traditional research paper on their topic, and provide a “poster” presentation as well as a formal presentation to an audience in a classroom setting. [2]

Part of the challenge of Project B is that the three students needed to read and respond to each other’s projects, and the teacher needed to read and respond to each student’s specific project as well. Because of the collaborative nature of Project B, the teacher and three students held an initial face-to-face meeting to determine tasks, roles, and collaboration spaces so that all members of the group could adjust their calendars and set deadlines. When individuals have a number of tasks or assignments that demand their attention, frequently meeting face-to-face is not conducive or productive. However, in the beginning of a collaborative task, such as Project B, it is extremely necessary to have a meeting so that a thorough assessment of the project and its requirements can be determined, which then provides useful information to the group for how to proceed.

Both Project A and B provide examples of ways that group work may be assigned in your classes. To be sure, there are a number of projects and ways that collaborative work is assigned and required by your teachers and your classes. Importantly, you should remember to assess the task, delegate responsibilities, and determine a timeframe (deadlines).

Using Technology to Organize the Project

In this section, we will consider the following questions:

• Which technology will work best for a specific project?
• Should you use or do you need multimedia files and documents?
• What kind of editing and revising is required or needed?

Many free technologies are available to help organize collaborative projects. Because Web 2.0 technologies like wikis and Google Docs are so common, they lend themselves to easy use when collaborating with others. Using technologies to organize group work and projects can make group work more productive, alleviate problems with group members who are absent (or who do not participate), and cost nothing to use. They are also easily accessible. A collaborative technology like a wiki can help group members organize their contributions, respond to others’ ideas, communicate with members of the group (easily forwarding links or electronic documents, for example), and facilitate a way to present the final group project to an audience. While there are a number of these technologies out there, wikis (like Wetpaint, PBWorks, or Wikispaces) and project management tools (like Google Docs) will serve as examples here of how to orchestrate a productive group work experience for you and your group members.

The most well-known wiki is Wikipedia. What makes Wikipedia intriguing is that all Wikipedia readers can edit most entries on the Wikipedia website. [3] This same concept is a shared characteristic among wikis. In short, it is what makes a wiki a wiki. Wikis, like many online free tools, often require a username and password. Everyone registered on the site can create and share pages or add to already existing pages (just like editing an entry in Wikipedia) by writing text, uploading images, or linking to videos, images, text/articles, or to other websites. The beauty in this tool is that it is free and all you need is an Internet connection. Moreover, your group can use a wiki to make contributions to your group project without having to meet face-to-face.

Mashing in other collaborative technologies can further help you to create, organize, and present your group project. To enhance the productivity of your group work, you might also consider employing another digital tool: Google Docs. Google Docs, like wikis, allows users to create and share documents electronically removing the necessity for face-to-face meetings. Once you create an account via Google, you will have access to other features that Google has, like Google Docs, Google Talk, and Gmail to name a few. [4] The attractive feature of Google Docs, is that it allows you to create many of the same types of documents as Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint). So, a team member could write the first draft of a proposal using Google Docs and share the document with the team for easy editing online. Or you could all revise and edit the document simultaneously. A link to the document can also be included on your group wiki page for easy access. In fact, because Google Docs is so valuable and easy to use, even teachers and researchers are using it to collaborate on their own research projects.

In Projects A and B, the wiki serves as a “house,” meaning this is where all information for the projects will be stored. The pages in the wiki are created as separate “rooms” in the house. Each room (or page) will represent a task in the project. Once the wiki is created and all members create an account and join, each group member can create their own page within the wiki so that information concerning that task can be available and edited by all group members. To keep with the house metaphor, each member can create their own “space” or room and put in their room only the things they need. For example, in Project A, the wiki might have a page for the contents of the newsletter whereby a group member can keep the other members up-to-date on currently drafted articles or information, and provide a timeframe for when other information will be available. For project A, you might set-up a wiki this way:

• Create three pages that correspond to the individual tasks. The three pages might be named: Newsletter Design, Newsletter Content, and Newsletter Production.
• Each member of the group is responsible for a section and should post information pertaining to his or her task. This might include drafts of articles for the newsletter—as mentioned previously—sample or mock-up drafts of the design of the newsletter, or ideas pertaining to how the newsletter should be created.
• Significantly, each member should contribute to the wiki in their specified area, or in their own room, but should also be visiting the other members’ areas—or rooms—to provide helpful feedback and ideas as needed.

Similarly, Project B integrates wikis and Google Docs by following similar principles. For example, in Project B, each of the three students created their own page (room) within the wiki (house) that the teacher created for them. Each of their projects was located within the wiki, making it easy for the members of Project B to read and respond to each other’s work (visit each other’s rooms).

In Project B, all three students were expected to create their own projects, but were encouraged to collaborate with the other students working on individual projects for help with revising, brainstorming research questions, and finding articles or other multimedia files that could help another student. Working together was the best course of action because each group member had a detailed project that required a high quality product. The wiki allowed group members to post and share information with each other. Together, Project B group members felt that using a wiki would be the best technology to use for collaborating and sharing each others’ work and progress.

How is using a wiki better or more helpful than simply meeting face-to-face? Aside from getting around schedule constraints trying to get all group members in the same room at the same time to work face-to-face, it also allows you and your group to always work in an electronic medium where all text, images, and links are saved at all times in one space, without having to trade files by email. All members have access to the same material from any location, and any group member can edit any of the documents at any time. Online collaboration also facilitates participation because group members who are often quiet in face-to-face meetings may feel less inhibited to participate or contribute to the project. You can also share the wiki with your teacher so she/ he can see your progress as your group completes the project.

There are a number of ways to share documents on a wiki, but an easy option is to create your documents using Google Docs. For example, while some drafting can be done in a wiki, it is even easier to create a Google Doc, draft an article for the project, then simply link to it from the wiki, allowing all group members to see the link and edit if they choose to do so. Regardless of whether you use wikis or Google Docs, both also provide the added benefit of revision tracking, which keeps a record of all changes made to the document and by whom.

With each group project, you will want to determine the best technological tool to complete the task. In Projects A and B, a wiki and Google Docs seem to be the best tools for the purpose, but it should be noted that there are a number of many Internet communication and productivity tools available (blogs, Facebook, drop.io file sharing, and instant messaging are some other tools that could assist you), and each group should determine what works best for that particular group and that particular project. Questions you might think about when determining which tool to use are:

• Will documents need to be edited, revised, or otherwise changed?
• Will group members need to be able to upload multimedia files and documents, and if so, what kinds and how large are they?
• Will documents need to be shared with more than assigned group members?

Answering these questions can help you determine the best technological tool for the task.

Assessing your project and determining the technological tools that will help complete it are not the only challenges when it comes to group work. Simply working with your group members can be difficult. Some group members do not participate, lack motivation or desire, or simply leave the bulk of the work to other group members, making excuses along the way. “Is this a group grade?” you might ask after learning about a group project assigned in one of your classes. Why is this a common question? By far, the biggest complaint of group work from students is that some members do not contribute fairly, and then the students who do the work must share the grade with the person who did very little. Certainly, teachers have come up with numerous ways to track work among students within a collaborative project like progress reports, end-of-project reflections, and asking group members to “grade” each other. These attempts at making sure all members of a group participate equally come with mixed results. However, using wikis or Google Docs, and inviting the teacher to review your group’s progress, gives your group and your instructor a permanent and visible record of the contributions each group member made.

Beyond using Web 2.0 technologies to help police non-contributing group members, using Web 2.0 tools can increase participation in your group by changing attitudes about group work. One of the reasons group projects can be successful is because group members can get excited by using a Web 2.0 technology to organize the project, and this has the potential to eliminate virtually all face-to-face meetings. Group members should decide on an exciting way to conduct and complete group work. Using a technology like a wiki, Google Docs, or a blog (or even a social networking site), can do more than excite group members about the project; it can also alleviate the problems associated with face-to-face discussion-based meetings and facilitate participation by all group members.

Once the project is complete, often you are asked to present the project to the class or to the group of people for whom you were working. As you will see in the next section, online digital tools can also help your group develop the presentation.

Using Technology for Presentation

• What type of presentation (or end product) is required?
• What tools will best help the group deliver a coherent presentation of the project?
• What technologies can help create the presentation?

Often, group work requires the presentation of the project to the class, teacher and/or people invested in the project. Presentations can take various forms. What kind of presentation you create is determined largely by the nature of the project itself. For example, if the group project you completed involved many numbers or statistics, you might consider creating graphs and charts to display the statistics in an honest and visually appealing format. Web 2.0 technologies can aid in this part of the project, too. Let’s look at the two projects described earlier.

Projects A and B required two types of presentations. Project A required the development of a newsletter. Certainly, the audience will want to see the completed newsletter, but your teacher, the non-profit organization, and/or your classmates will also want to see how you collected the information to write the content of the newsletter and the process your group went through to design the newsletter. For example, how did your group decide on the design and layout of the newsletter? To illustrate the work your group completed, consider the technologies you used to organize the project and your group. When you and your group members use Google Docs and a wiki to house and create a project, your information is readily available in electronic format. An easy way to illustrate what you have done is by showing the audience your group wiki pages (your house and the rooms) to help explain the decision-making process. Likewise, you and your group could also use Google Docs’ presentation tool, which resembles Microsoft PowerPoint, to show and share more concretely the major points and ideas of the newsletter. Once you create a Google Doc presentation, you could link to it from your wiki (house), and email a link to the presentation to all audience members for easy reference. Additionally, your presentation is available from almost any location that has an Internet connection. You do not even have to carry a USB flash drive containing the presentation.

Project B, on the other hand, required a slightly different dynamic for group members because each group member had to present the project orally, as well as put together a poster that summarized the project as a whole. Like Project A, students could use Google Docs’ presentation tool to develop the oral presentation because they had maintained their work in the wiki.

The posters were created by another software program that was also shared electronically among group members. While group members shared the posters via email, they also reviewed and edited each other’s presentations by using Google Docs. Eventually, links to the posters were added to the wiki.

As you will discover in your own projects, creating presentations in Google Docs functions like a review system that allows you and your classmates to access the presentations from home, encourages group members to participate, and increases the quality of work produced by the group. When presentations are meant to be interactive, having the project and presentation in an electronic format will allow others to participate in your project and further illustrate the time, work, and effort put into a specific project.

Working in a collaborative environment can be tricky and certainly if group members decide not to contribute, it can become more challenging than it should be. There are a number of ways to improve the quality of group work. Assessing your project or what you have been asked to do is the first step in determining how best to proceed. Once groups have been formulated, having an initial group meeting is imperative. If your teacher does not provide time during class, you could meet face-to-face in the library, a coffee shop, or if you are taking the course as a distance or online course, hold a phone conference using a free service such as FreeConferenceCall.com, Skype, or talk online in a chat room. During this meeting, it is important to determine group member roles. What should each group member do to help facilitate the completion of a project? Remember to consider the following when getting ready for group work:

• How many group members are needed or required and what should each one do?
• What technologies can help the group complete the project collaboratively?
• What is the best way to present the project?

The newsletter project (Project A), ended successfully. Using a wiki called Wikispaces, the group was able to post all content concerning the newsletter to the wiki for everyone to view and evaluate. Because all group members could follow the progress of the newsletter on the wiki, all group members were able to communicate and share information, manage their deadlines, and complete their tasks in a timely manner. The group could also share the wiki and other project information with the non-profit organization’s stakeholders. Keeping the client organization up-to-date with the progress of the project is an important positive attribute to using Web 2.0 tools to develop collaborative projects. The presentation of the project included a Google Doc with links to pertinent material associated with how group member contributed directly to the project, which included research gathered about the organization and the adaptation of a logo/image. The group maintained a large house filled with rooms of information that was easy to mange, access, and use. Indeed, the work and contributions of group members, the full development of the project, and the end-product delivered are a direct result of employing Web 2.0 tools like wikis and Google Docs. When assigned a group task or group project, you should consider what free digital tools are available that can most help you and your group members organize the project.

• Consider some of your previous experiences doing collaborative work. What important concepts in this essay would have been useful for your group to know? Why?
• Think about what online tools (websites) you have used to communicate or share content. Would any of them be useful for doing collaborative work with a group? Why?
• Create a Google Docs account (if you don’t have one already). Experiment with it. Think about the individual work you do as a college student. How might Google Docs be useful to you for your non-group work?
• This work is licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNoncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License and is subject to the Writing Spaces Terms of Use. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. To view the Writing Spaces Terms of Use, visit http://writingspaces.org/terms-of-use . ↵
• The students were required to create a poster for a presentation to faculty, and in this situation the students simply stood next to their poster and explained the project to those who chose to stop by and review them. The students were also required to provide a more formal presentation of their work in a classroom setting (where a computer and LCD projector could also be used). ↵
• Wikipedia controls the edits of some entries more than others; they also allow anonymous edits for some entries. Users should read the restrictions and limitations surrounding some Wikipedia entries. ↵
• For those who simply want access to Google Docs, they can create an account using a school email address. In other words, a full Google account is not necessary for access to Google Docs. ↵

Collaborating Online: Digital Strategies for Group Work Copyright © 2010 by Anthony T. Atkins is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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CSUN Teaching Strategies

Before you assign another group project . . . . six keys to creating effective group assignments and team projects (2011).

Wendy Yost, Lecturer Department of Recreation & Tourism Management California State University, Northridge [email protected]

Note: documents on this page can be viewed online using free software: Adobe Acrobat Reader (for .pdf files) and Microsoft Word Viewer (for .doc files).

When I first started teaching Recreation & Tourism Management 302 - Dynamics of Leadership in Recreation & Human Services, I knew that in order to meet the Learning Outcomes for the course it would be important to include a group project among the class assignments.

Yet I also knew, that as a student, I hated group projects. I typically did more than my share of the work to achieve a desirable grade, it was difficult to find time outside of class to meet with my classmates and professors weren't always clear about their expectations for group assignments.

It turns out, two decades later, these concerns persist as a recent study conducted on campus confirmed.

Recently 136 students at California State University, Northridge completed a survey having to do with Navigating Conflict in Student Teams. The students identified five contributing factors to experiencing conflict in student teams: Schedule/Distance differences, Quality/Personal Standards differences, Style/Personality differences, Group Size/Roles and Accountability. More specifically, of the students who responded indicated the following:

• 14% of students felt group work was negative because of: Communication Problems
• 39% of students felt group work was negative because of: Timing, Scheduling Issues
• 47% of students felt group work was negative because of: Personality Clash, Conflicting Ideas, Disagreements
• 73% of students felt group work was negative because of: Lack of Participation, Slackers, Flakes, Unequal Work

[Scott, W., Taylor, A., Lemus, D., and Oh, J. (2008, April). Navigating Conflict in Student Teams . Symposium conducted at Faculty Development Series, California State University Northridge, California.]

So as I thought through how to build a more effective, engaging and enjoyable group project, I realized I needed to approach the assignment differently than I had seen it approached in the past.

Below you will find detailed information about a group project that I have administered for the last six semesters along with the various tools that I designed to support the students with the assignment.

To provide further context, I use this assignment in a 300 level required student leadership course that typically includes 35 - 40 (but has included as many as 50) students, all pursuing their degrees in Recreation & Tourism Management.

Each semester, this assignment has been well received by students as a critical learning experience as well as an unexpectedly fun opportunity to get to know themselves and their classmates as leaders.

I routinely receive feedback from students about this group project being the first group project that they ever enjoyed participating in. I don't think their feedback has much to do with the assignment itself, but rather the context created for the assignment and the tools and support offered throughout it.

There are six keys that come to mind when I think of this assignment and what has contributes to its success:

Create a Conducive Environment that Encourages Positive Participation

Group projects always make me nervous. My social skills are not all there, I guess. Although, since starting this semester, getting into groups and participating in activities has been fun and great for networking. I don’t feel as uncomfortable as I have felt in the past with previous classes. –Thomas

This starts with the very first day of class when I review a section in the course syllabus entitled: Appropriate Classroom Etiquette . In it I explain...

Every person in the class deserves your respect. We are all here to learn. Including me. As we move through the semester, you may not always agree with what is being shared. In such cases, please make a point of disagreeing with what is being said without attacking the person who said it. Learning how to give and receive constructive feedback is a cornerstone of leadership. It is also a skill that takes practice. So as necessary, I will ask you to rephrase your opinion or observation in a more constructive way.

There are also several things that I have been told by students that I do that help them want to participate in class: I learn each student's name by the third week of class (including in the class of 50*), I welcome and encourage differing points of view as long as they are communicated respectfully, and I encourage students to share things about themselves with the class in low risk ways. For example, when I am returning papers, I ask that the students to share their favorite ice cream flavor, favorite movie, favorite place to eat and so on. I ask the class to pay attention to what is being shared as they might find someone in class that they have a lot in common with.

*A small side bar on learning names quickly: I tell the students that it is important that they be known by me and known by each other in this class. I ask about correct pronunciation of any names I have difficulty with again and again. I have the students state their name before talking for the first few weeks. I take notes on my role sheet to help remember key traits. I allow myself to make a lot of mistakes the first few weeks, and restate my commitment to learning their names. The students seem to cut me some slack when I mess up given they see that I am trying. I often use appropriate humor to smooth over my mistakes, especially when they occur half way through the semester.

There are several systems for remembering names that you can find online. If this is something you would like to work on, I recommend conducting a brief online search and then selecting a process that will work best for you.

A playful facet of creating a conducive environment emerged organically one semester and has stuck ever since. It is my invoking my Best Audience Ever clause. I explain to the students that they are all going to be speaking in front of the class over the course of the semester and therefore they will want to provide a comfortable atmosphere for public speaking.

I then write on the board that a positive atmosphere includes students who are Attentive, Supportive and Smiling. I write the words on the board in such a way that the first letter stands out and then suggest that doing anything other than being Attentive, Supportive and Smiling would leave them being what the initials spell out. It usually gets a laugh and they usually get the point.

Acknowledge the Realities of Our Students

We know that most of the students in our classes work part time, full time or more not to mention other responsibilities they have on their plates. If you have any doubts about this, ask the students in your class. I was surprised to learn how many students were juggling multiple jobs in addition to school to be able to help their family with expenses. I also found that many students have significant responsibilities when it comes to helping to raise younger brothers or sisters or helping with aging parents or grandparents. All of which take time and energy.

By building in class time for the groups to meet, it reduces one of the biggest concerns students have about group assignments and it allows you to observe the groups in action to assess what additional support and/or direction might be needed.

There are a couple of things I would like to point out about the Sample Group Project Worksheet. I wait until after the last day to add/drop to assign groups. I found that this minimizes frustration of groups gaining or loosing members. Students can still add/drop after this date, but more signatures are required to do so and it is therefore less common. If a group looses a student after they have started their planning process, I meet with them to discuss how to best adjust their project plan. I also adjust my expectations for how long their presentation needs to be and consider the impact of having lost a member mid-project when calculating their grades.

On the days that they gather in their work groups, I take role and then ask them to get into their groups. I bring various resources that can assist them in the their planning process and I serve as a willing resource until the last group leaves the room. Students are able to use this time to work in our classroom, go to the library, go to a computer lab or go elsewhere on campus that might support their planning process.

Sample Group Project Worksheet (DOC, 35 KB) / Sample Group Project Worksheet (PDF, 18 KB)

Clearly Communicate Expectations

At the start of the semester, I let the students know that there will be a group project, and that I am committed to having it be unlike any group project they have experienced before. We talk about what they dislike about group projects and then I provide information about how this group project will be different and ask that they please set aside past experiences and be open to a more positive experience this semester.

More specifically, the students know upon reading the syllabus for class at the start of the semester that I am committed to their experience working on a group project being a positive one, that they will have time in class to meet, that they will have access to me if any questions or concerns arise during their planning process, and that they will have a supportive audience when they do their group presentations.

Group Project Assignment Excerpts from Course Syllabus (DOC, 45 KB) / Group Project Assignment Excerpts from Course Syllabus (PDF, 17 KB)

Consider Grading Individually for Group Projects

I reserve the right to grade individually. This lessens some of the concerns students have about mismatched standards of quality or having to do more than their fair share of the work. It does mean that mechanisms need to be created to assess individual grades (i.e. Peer Reviews, Journal Entries, or the like). Yet it provides freedom in being able to assign grades that are appropriate for the level of work contributed. This method also allows students to gain important skills related to giving and receiving feedback.

A few words on the samples provided in this section. Each student in class completes a Peer Review Form. I draw names for which students will conduct the peer reviews for which groups the day of each presentation. This process keeps the students engaged in the classes being taught by their peers.

If a student feels that there were group members who did not effectively contribute to the planning or execution of their group's project, then they are encouraged to speak up about it in their Student Report (a journal entry) and to submit a Collaborative Learning Form.

If I elect to provide different grades for members of a group, that decision is based on corroborating data from the following: Students expressing concern to me, what multiple group members communicated in their Student Reports, any Collaborative Learning Forms received and what was readily apparent to me and to the peer reviewers while watching the group's presentation.

In some cases, I think the sheer possibility of individual grades has encouraged students who might otherwise slack off, to instead step up, knowing that they will not be carried by their group mates.

Sample Peer Review Form (PDF, 19 KB)

Sample Student Report (PDF, 61 KB)

Sample Collaborative Learning Form (PDF, 17 KB)

Provide Appropriate Tools, Resources, and Support

The ice-breaker was a great way to get acquainted and find out how to best interact with group members – while having fun! –Katie

I found it critically important to hold lectures and discussions on typical issues related to group dynamics before putting students into groups. And provide avenues for the students to express concerns with how their group's progress is unfolding.

The activity that launches the group project is a simple one, and yet it is an activity that come the end of the semester, many students still reference. It is based on Bruce Tuckman's Forming – Storming – Norming – Performing model of group development.

After conducting a lottery to put students into groups, I have them do a small ice breaker (favorite movie or the like) as they add their names, phone numbers and email addresses to the Group Project Worksheets.

I then have them refer to the Tuckman's Forming Storming Norming Performing Overview in their class reader and assign each group one of the stages of group development: Forming, Storming, Norming or Performing. As a group they get to choose how to best teach their assigned stage of development to the class via three of the following possible methods: Singing a Song, Reenacting a TV Scene, Reenacting a Movie Scene, Reenacting a Historical Reference or via an Interpretive Dance. I remind them of the Best Audience Ever Clause: Attentive, Smiling and Supportive and I give them 15 minutes to prepare.

When it is time to perform, I have each group come to the front of the room one at a time, stand in front of their peers, take a breath and look to their peer audience. I have the group members announce which chapter they will be teaching the class for their group project, and have each group member share their name. I have the class clap for them before they actually present their way of teaching Forming, Storming, Norming or Performing.

After each group has presented their material, we discuss both the group development model and what the experience was like for them. I drive home that all groups storm and that it is a natural part of a group's development and therefore to acknowledge it when it happens. I also share that they have now all been in front of the class, spoke in front of their peers (some even sang or danced!) and they lived through it. So by the end of the semester, their group project should be a piece of cake!

The Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing activity was a blast! It brought our group closer together and allowed us to work together and amalgamate our ideas. Our topic was Performing. We took too much time discussing our ideas so when our time was up we didn’t have much of a plan. I do believe that given the time we have to work on the group project we will work together really well. –Emily

Above is just one example with one ice-breaker, lists of ice-breakers can be easily located via a simple online search. You can also visit the Dick Scott Memorial Leadership Library located in the Matador Involvement Center on campus (1st Floor, University Student Union Sol Center) where you can check out books that list thousands of ice-breakers and team builders and how to facilitate them. Some favorites from the Leadership Library include:

• Bianchi, S., Butler, J., Richey, D., (1990). Warm-ups for Meeting Leaders . San Diego: University Associates/Pfeiffer & Company. (BINDER)
• Bendaly, L., (1996). Games Teams Play: Dynamic Activities for Tapping Work Team Potential . Whitby: McGraw-Hill Ryerson limited. (BINDER)
• Forbess-Greene, S., (1983). The encyclopedia of icebreakers: structured activities that warm-up, motivate, challenge, acquaint and energize . San Francisco: Pfeiffer & Company An imprint of Jossey-Bass, Inc., Publishers.
• Newstrom, J.W., Scannel, E., The Complete Games Trainers Play . Volume I (BINDER)
• Newstrom, J.W., Scannel, E., The Complete Games Trainers Play . Volume II (BINDER)
• Pfeiffer, J.W. (1989). The encyclopedia of group activities: 150 practical designs for successful facilitating . San Francisco: Pfeiffer & Company: an imprint of Jossey-Bass, Inc., Publishers.
• Ukens, L.L. (1997). Getting together: icebreakers and group energizers . San Francisco: Pfeiffer, an imprint of Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers.

Sample Group Project Worksheet (PDF, 18 KB)

Tuckman's Forming Storming Norming Performing Overview (PDF, 45 KB)

Include Opportunities for Reflection Throughout the Experience

I have found that it is important to provide multiple avenues for students to share their experience functioning as part of a group. Some ideas:

• Routinely ask how things are going with their groups
• If the course includes a journaling experience, have the students submit a journal entry on how progress with their group is unfolding halfway through the planning process
• Remind students of your office hours and encourage them to talk with you if they or their group is struggling
• Have students write a reflective paper after they completed the assignment

If a student or students come to me before or after class or during office hours with concerns about their group, I take time during the next class session to ask how all of the groups are doing, what has been working and what has presented different challenges. Students can learn from other groups as to how to function more effectively and if most of the groups are struggling you might find aspects of the assignment that you might consider re-tooling in the future.

Create an evaluation or simply have a discussion that allows students to provide you with feedback on what they learned from the assignment, what could have made the assignment more relevant/applicable and what additional support from the professor might have be helpful.

In closing, at the end of each semester, we spend an entire class revisiting what we learned during our past 15 weeks together. Time and again students reference the group project. They speak to what they learned as a presenter, as a group member, as a peer reviewer and as a learner receiving chapter content from their peers. While there are a lot of steps involved in the process outlined, they have shown to make a positive difference in how students experience group projects. I think one particularly shy student summed it up well...

I just want to thank you for giving me and my classmates the opportunity and the encouragement to know one another so when that time comes to speak in front of the class, I will feel comfortable and ready to demonstrate leadership. –Deon

Related Recommended Readings (PDF, 36 KB)

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Effective group work

• Introduction

Getting organised

Developing your speaking and listening skills, giving constructive feedback, managing conflict in groups, being a good group member.

• More on this topic...
• Presentations (online)
• Working together (online)

Useful links for group work

• Study Advice Helping students to achieve study success with guides, video tutorials, seminars and one-to-one advice sessions.
• Getting started pack A handy pack for your first group meeting containing: templates for minutes; suggested ground rules; and tips on dealing with challenging group members.

This guide offers research-informed advice on how to help everyone in your group work together effectively, keeping focused and on track.

When you start any group assignment or project it is a good idea to agree on some basic organisation and how the group will work and communicate together.

Think about:

• When to meet - pick times that everyone can make
• Where to meet - again, pick a place that is accessible to all group members. You may need to book rooms in advance
• How best to keep in touch - share emails and phone numbers and agree the easiest way to communicate. You might use a blog or wiki on Blackboard
• A realistic schedule to complete your task
• The importance of being committed to the group, and turning up and participating

A key aspect of good group organisation is  starting and finishing  with everyone knowing what they are expected to do.

• Start by agreeing on the objectives for the group - what do you want to achieve in this session?
• Keep focused by having a list of tasks or issues to cover
• Perhaps select someone to take notes and keep track of what was agreed
• End by summarising what was agreed on in the meeting
• Ensure all group members understand what they have to do for the next meeting
• Agree on a time and place to meet again if necessary

Good group work depends on good listening skills. Do you take in what others are saying? Do you pay attention to their feelings? Do you switch off when you are bored or dislike the speaker?

Try these effective listening strategies:

• Concentrate on what the speaker is saying, not on what you want to say next
• Wait until the speaker has finished their point - don't interrupt
• Focus on the content of what they are saying and link it to other ideas - how might it be useful?
• Consider the speaker's feelings

Speak in the group - not at them.

People who speak at a group leave no space for response and tend to dominate. People who speak in a group consider the other members. So:

• Make contributions, but don't dominate
• Ask questions, but not too many
• Speak to the whole group - not just to your friends
• Acknowledge your errors and apologise, "Oh I see, I'm sorry I misunderstood…"
• Keep the discussion flowing
• Encourage the group to keep to the subject by steering the discussion back to the topic, "We were talking about…"
• Build on other people's ideas, "That's an important point you made because…"
• Suggest ideas that the whole group can comment on, "Why don't we…" or "What do people think about…"
• Summarise for the group, "We agreed that…"

Most communication is non-verbal: Pay attention to people's body language as this can reveal a lot about how they feel about the group. Are they looking distracted? Have they crossed their arms and are they looking defensive? Do they look upset or confused? Why might this be?

It doesn't take much to stop people engaging in a group - if they suggest something and get knocked back, they may just withdraw. Think about how you would feel if someone criticised your ideas, and keep this in mind when giving feedback.

• Find something positive to say, "That was very interesting. I never thought about it like that before…"
• Let people know when you agree with their point and why, "So do I…", "Yes, that's true…"
• If you disagree with something, instead of rejecting the other person's ideas, explore them, "What makes you think that…?" Have you thought about…?"
• Be constructive and specific. If you don't agree, explain why and give evidence or examples rather than just saying no.

• Stay as objective as possible - focus on the issue that you disagree on, not on the personal qualities of people in the group.
• If everyone starts shouting at once, introduce a system of going round the group asking each person their ideas or opinion in turn.

Try to use language which doesn't single out people and blame them, but instead makes it clear that you are offering your own feelings and thoughts. Rather than, "You're annoying and always speaking…" instead, "I am hurt because I don't think the group listens to my ideas."

If the group really can't agree on something, discuss the pros and cons of the idea, then have a vote and go with the majority decision.

• Dealing with conflict Advice on how to deal with varying forms of conflict within the group
• How do I collaborate with others effectively? Guidance on what happens when a group isn't working

Taking part in a group doesn't just mean speaking a lot or always offering suggestions. Being a good group member is about being committed to the group and making a contribution that plays to your strengths. For a group to work well it takes a variety of people each playing different roles. Play to your strengths - find something you can contribute. For example, if you don't feel confident doing presentations, instead volunteer to produce the handouts.

What can you do to help the group succeed?

Be encouraging

We indicate to other people how well we are listening through our verbal and non-verbal communication. We can use these responses to encourage other members of the group when they are speaking. For example, through:

• Eye contact
• Reassuring nods and gestures
• Letting them know that you found what they said interesting
• Saying something positive about their contribution

Help the discussion to flow

• Encourage the group to keep to the subject
• Make suggestions and share your ideas: 'Why don't we…?'
• Build on other people's ideas: 'That's an important point you made because…'
• Sum up for the group: 'We have agreed on these points so far..'

Avoid sabotaging

It is quite easy to sabotage a group, often unintentionally, through any of the following:

• Being late for the session
• Not preparing
• Whispering or chatting while someone is addressing the group

Be inclusive  

Help all group members to feel involved. If someone is not participating, try asking their opinion or seeing if there is a role they'd like to take on. Try making them feel welcome by chatting before or after the group meets. This will benefit you as well as them - they might be really good at doing a task you hate! Be aware of cultural differences which might be shaping how people are behaving within your group (see below)

• Cultural differences in group work How different cultures might affect the behaviour of group members
• Next: More on this topic... >>
• Last Updated: Sep 27, 2023 11:10 AM
• URL: https://libguides.reading.ac.uk/groups

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10 Questions To Get Acquainted With Your Online Students

Best books for your children, public universities are failing the public, institutions must change how they handle sexual assaults, indications that your university is on the verge of shutting down, an age-by-age approach to disciplining your children, common elements of instructional systems design, great education leaders solicit feedback, great education leaders are instructional leaders, great education leaders are accomplished mediators and negotiators, how to manage group assignments in google classroom.

Over the last decade, there has been a multitude of research to support the use of student groups and student collaboration for class assignments. Early online learning environments forced teachers to become creative in assigning and collecting collaborative work; however, current systems offer more options. The most recent updates to Google Classroom expanded the possibilities for students and teachers in regards to grouping assignments. Assigning lessons to groups of students in Classroom involves only a few simple steps and opens up possibilities which were not formerly available for teachers and students.

Step 1: Create Group Documents

The first step in assigning group work in Classroom is to create an assignment document (Doc, Sheet, etc.) and make a copy for each group. Be sure to add the group name or number to the end of the file name to assist with organization. Save group assignment documents in Drive where they can be easily located. Saving documents in the Classroom folder is acceptable.

Step 2: Create Group Assignment Topic

On the Classwork tab, select the Create button and choose Topic. Give the topic an appropriate name relative to the group project.

Step 3: Choose Students

Select the Create button and choose Assignment. In the Assignment dialogue box, click the student dropdown menu, uncheck “all students” and choose the students who will be in the first group. This step will be repeated later for additional groups.

Step 4: Create Assignment

In the Assignment dialogue box, give the assignment an appropriate title which includes the group name and/or number and provide any additional instructions. Remember to select the Topic for the group project. Next, upload assignment documents for the initial group, and be sure “Students Can Edit” is chosen as the document option instead of making a copy for each student. Don’t post the assignment yet – save as a draft until all groups are created.

Step 5: Reuse Assignment for Additional Groups

Using the “Reuse Post” feature helps teachers avoid the need to retype information for each group assignment. First, click the Create button and choose Reuse Post. The Reuse Post dialogue box will appear. Select the post to be duplicated and click Reuse. Finally, edit the assignment as needed for each group. Ensure that the group members are adjusted using the student dropdown menu and that the group number is changed in the title and instructions (if needed). Also, remember to remove the assignment documents for the prior group and upload the documents needed for the new group. Save additional group assignments as drafts (don’t post yet).

Step 6: Post All Group Assignments

Once all group assignment draft are complete, the final step is to post the assignments so students can begin working. Drafts of group assignments will appear under the group topic created in Step 1. Click the triple dot menu and select Edit. The Assignment dialogue box will appear in order for the assignment to be posted. Repeat this step for each group.

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— Igor Volk, a Soviet-era cosmonaut whose only spaceflight in 1984 was intended to prepare him to fly Russia's space shuttle Buran before it was canceled, died on Tuesday (Jan. 3). He was 79. Volk's death was reported on the website for the Russian city of Zhukovsky, where the cosmonaut was an honorary citizen. "[Volk] was a representative of the legendary generation of cosmonauts," the city officials wrote on Zhukovskiy.ru . "He will remain in our memory as an outstanding personality, an extraordinary man and a highly skilled, courageous test cosmonaut, who made a contributions to the exploration of outer space and to the knowledge of the mysteries of the universe." Roscosmos, Russia's federal space corporation, confirmed Volk's death in a post to its Facebook page.

Selected in July 1977 among the first group of civilian test pilots for the Buran, the Soviet Union's answer to the U.S. space shuttle, Volk passed basic cosmonaut training and qualified for a spaceflight assignment in 1980. Volk might have then waited for a mission on board the winged orbiter — a flight that would ultimately never come — were it not for an aborted space station docking three years earlier. In the wake of a two-man, all-rookie Soyuz crew failing to dock to the Salyut 6 station, a new rule was instituted by the Soviet space program that every crew had to include at least one person who had previously flown into space. As such, Volk was initially named to fly with Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyov to the Salyut 7 space station in 1983, to provide him the experience needed to lead the first flight of the Buran. Another failed docking mission however, resulted in Kizim and Solovyov being reassigned to a later launch and Volk being added to the Soyuz T-12 mission crew with Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Svetlana Savitskaya, the latter being the world's second woman to fly into space making her second spaceflight. Volk, Dzhanibekov and Savitskaya launched on July 17, 1984 from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome (now located in Kazakhstan). During the Soyuz T-12 mission, the seventh crewed flight to visit Salyut 7, Savitskaya became the first woman to go out on a spacewalk, beating NASA astronaut Kathy Sullivan by three months.

Volk returned to Earth with his two crewmates on July 29, 1984, logging a total of 11 days, 19 hours and 14 minutes in space. Soon after he landed, Volk boarded a Tu-154LL Buran training aircraft and flew an approach following the same flight path the orbiter would on its return from space, touching down at Zhukovsky Air Base near Moscow. The flight demonstrated that a cosmonaut still readjusting to gravity could safely fly the shuttle to a landing, though Volk, nor any other cosmonaut, would have the opportunity to conduct that real re-entry from space. Igor Petrovich Volk was born in Kharkiv, now the second- largest city in Ukraine, on April 12, 1937, 24 years to the day before cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin would become the first human to fly into space and 44 years to the day before the first launch of NASA's space shuttle. A pilot in the Soviet Air Force and graduate of Kirovograd Military Aviation School in 1956, Volk received his degree in engineering from the Moscow Aviation Institute in 1969. He then went to work as a civilian test pilot at the Gromov Flight Research Institute, flying jets, including the MiG-21, MiG-25 and Su-27, as well as a single flight in the "Lapot," an atmospheric test vehicle for the never-realized MiG-105 "Spiral" space plane. After his Soyuz T-12 mission, Volk continued to prepare for a Buran mission by piloting 13 flights of the analog version of the shuttle, the OK-GLI, between November 1985 and April 1988. His last approach and landing flight marked the 25th and last flight for the vehicle, which is now on display at the Technik Museum Speyer in Germany.

The Buran only launched to space once, without a crew, in 1988, before the program was canceled in 1993. "Energiya-Buran is the most powerful space vehicle the world has ever seen, and, had it been given the chance to fully develop, it would have been of great benefit to the people of the Soviet Union and, indeed, the world," Volk wrote in his foreword to the 2007 book "Energiya-Buran" by Bart Hendrickx and Bert Vis. "It didn't get that chance, but the political, and to some extent, economical situation, were not ideal." In 1995, Volk left the cosmonaut corps to become director of the flight test center at the MM Gromov Flight Research Institute in Zhukovsky, a position he held until he retired in 2002. For his service to the country's space program, Volk was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin in June 1984. Volk is survived by his wife, Valentina, and two daughters, Marina and Irina.

Suit Up: 50 Years of Spacewalks