Facilitating Group Work

Facilitated by Dalia Hanna, Gosha Zywno and Maureen Reed

The Learning and Teaching Office

March 21, 2012

Objectives

• Explore best practices in designing student group work

• How to manage groups (Communication & Conflict)

• How to assess group work

Designing Successful Group Work

• Make the group work relevant• Create assignments that fit the students' skills

and abilities• Assign group tasks that allow for a fair division of

labor• Plan for individual accountability• Create group tasks that require interdependence

(Davis, 1993)

Designing Successful Group WorkResearch indicates the manner in which an instructor facilitates a group project has a significant impact on the success of the group project

•Be sure the task is worthy of a group •Design the assignment: Stay focused on your intended learning objectives. •Prepare students for collaboration: Provide students with strategies and tools to help them collaborate•Do regular assessments: Clearly articulate how you will measure success for both the collaborative process and the final product.

(University of Wisconsin, 2009)

Type of Groups

• Project Groups:o Student-Formed Groupso Instructor-Assigned Groups

“Although students-selected groups perceived they produced higher-quality work, the actual grades assigned to the group projects did not differ between group formation condition.”

(Hilton & Phillips, 2010, p.26)

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

Common issues:

• My students don’t like or want to work in groups• How do I decide which assignments/activities to make

collaborative?• How do I divide students into groups?• How can I help students learn to work in groups?• How can I deal with conflicts within the groups?• How do I grade collaborative work?• What are ways of dealing with unproductive or

disruptive members?(Schwartz, 2011)

Group Work: Faculty members say

Group Work: Faculty members

Group Work: ResearchThe Association of American Colleges and Universities have identified group work as a high impact educational practice.

Group work (a)Assists student to problem solve(b)Help students to work in team environments

(Macgregor, Cooper, Smith & Robinson, 2000)

Group Work: Research

• The reasons for using group work (100 faculty interviewed):

oPromoting cognitive elaboration o Enhancing critical thinkingoProviding feedbackoPromoting social and emotional developmentoAppreciating diversityoReducing student attrition

Group Work: ResearchThe National Survey on Student Engagement (NSSE) identified Active and Collaborative Learning as one of 5 benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice.

•Students learn more when they are:o Intensely involved in their educationo Are asked to think about and apply what they are

learning in different settings.

(NSSE, 2009)

Group Work: Students sayEngage Technology Enhanced Group Work Award survey. Over 800 students participated.

•86% agree that group work is valuable•63% agree that they learn more effectively in groups

(University of Wisconsin, 2009)

Managing GroupsA group came to you saying, we can not understand what

we are supposed to do, we tried to work together but failed to make any progress?

1. What are the questions that you would need to ask?

2. What are the tools that you could provide?3. How can you help them to communicate effectively?

Designate time for team support. Don’t wait until they come to you with problems. They may never come

The purpose of the Group

• Tubbs & Moss (2000):Small number of people learn together about a subject

• Werthein (2001) added:…with complementary skills, committed to a common

goal, a common working approach and mutual accountability

(as cited in Oudtshroone & Hay, n.d.)

• A group project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result

(PMBOK, 2004)

The purpose of the Group

• Group work is best when project management is considered

• Project Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements - (PMBOK, 2004)

Project Management

• Project Management Processes :o Initiationo Planningo ExecutingoMonitoring and

Controllingo Closing

(PMBOK, 2004)

Project Management: Triple Constraints

SCOPE

COST

QUALITY

TIME

Project Management: Initiation

• A project charter or project definition states:

o Group goals and objectives (Clearly stated)o Roles and responsibilities o Communication methodso What happens if things go wrong?

(WHO is doing WHAT)

Project Management: Planning

• While planning the project, the project plan should involve all appropriate student members. (PMBOK, 2004)

• Example: After creating the charter, clear goals and responsibilities are assigned. Details about each goal should also be identified (Work breakdown structure – WBS)

Project Management: Planning

• Student could present their plans using a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

What are Stages of Group Development?

Forming

Norming

Performing

Adjourning

Help Your Students Establish Roles

• Clear objectives (The purpose)• The charter (Contract)• Determine the size and composition• The leadership role rotates• Other roles:

oNote takero Time keeperoMonitor

(FitzRandolph & Farrell, 2005)

Forming

Help Your Students Reach the Goals

Storming• (Me) Versus (We)• Communication skills and conflict

management skills• Listen and paraphrase• Confront the problem student directly• Tolerate and encourage disagreement

Help Your Students to Communicate in Groups

• Interpersonal Communication: o Two-way communication is necessary

(Wilbur Schramm as cited in Verma, 1996)

Sender ReceiverMessage

CultureValues

Personalities

EmotionsJudgments

Communication Methods: Face-to-Face

• Verbal• Nonverbal• Written

Albert Meharabian:

Total Message Impact = Words (7%) + Vocal tones (38%) + Facial expressions (55%)

(as cited in Verma, 1996)

• Meetings (Timing – Agenda – Notes – Follow-up)

Communication Methods: Virtual• Tools to meet and connect virtually:

o Document Sharing: Google Docs o Wikis: Wikispaces o File Sharing: Dropbox o VoIP: Skype (http://www.skype.com)

• Characteristics of a virtual meeting

Group Work Assessment

Norming• Check in with student teams, ask for drafts• Danger: feeling of cohesion vs. good decision-

making

Performing• Members achieve the goals• Any unplanned changes in members or roles

could take them back to the Storming phase

(FitzRandolph & Farrell, 2005)

Norming

Performing

Group Work Assessment

Adjourning• Evaluation and Assessment (Rubrics)• Be careful when you give a group mark

(Academic Integrity Reasons)• Marking individually could create sense of

isolation especially from the low performers and minority

Adjourning

Help your Student to Resolve ConflictConflict Management Skills:

• Assertiveness, the person satisfies his/her own concerns• Cooperativeness, person attempts to satisfy the other

person's concerns

• These two basic dimensions of behavior define five different modes for responding to conflict situations:

Competing, Collaborating, Compromising, Accommodating, and Avoiding

(TKI-Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument)

Common conflicts in group work

• One student is a ‘social loafer’, that is this student does not contribute to the group

Potential solutions?

Conflicts continued

• Students are arguing about the division of work because one student has taken over others tasks

Potential solutions?

Conflicts continued

• There seems to be personality conflicts within a group.

Potential solutions?

Conflicts continued

• You know that students have not contributed equally but in peer evaluations students gave equal grades to all group members.

Potential solutions?

ReferencesA Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (3rd ed.). (2004). Newtown, PA: Project Management

InstituteDavis B. G. (1993). Collaborative Learning: Group Work and Study Teams. In Tools for Teaching. Retrieved from

http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/collaborative.htmlHicks, Chelsea (2011), “Guiding Group work: Activities to maximize student learning from group projects,”

Teaching Innovation projects: Vol. 1 Iss. 1, Article 6. Available at: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/tips/vol1/iss1/6Hilton, S. and Phillips, F. (2101). Instructor-assigned and student-selected groups: A view from the inside. The

Teaching Professor (2011, June-July, vol. 25, n.6, 2011)FitzRandolph, S. & Farrell, G. (2005). Survey of literature on the use of learning and project teams in the

classroomFreeman, L. and Greenacre, L. (2011). An examination of socially destructive behaviors in group wok. An article

in The Teaching Professor (2010, April, vol. 24, n.4, 2010)Oudtshroone, R. & Hay, D. (n.d.). Group work in higher education: a mismanaged evil or a potential good?.

Retrieved from http://nwu.academia.edu/GPvanRheedevanOudtshoorn/Papers/487967/Group_work_in_higher_education_a_mismanaged_evil_or_a_potential_good

Schwartz, M. (2011). Common issues about group work from faculty perspective.Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument— also known as the TKI (Mountain View, CA: CPP, Inc., 1974–2009).

Kenneth W. Thomas and Ralph H. Kilmann Retrieved from: http://www.kilmann.com/conflict.htmlUniversity of Wisconsin, Technology-Enhanced Collaborative Group Work, Retrieved from:

http://engage.wisc.edu/collaboration/how_to/index.htmlVerma, V. K. (1997). Managing the project team. The human aspect of project management (v. 3). Newtown,

PA: Project Management Institute

Questions/Comments