Encouraging Activie Discussions
I strongly encourage students to be engaged with each other because the information they can share with each other is also very valuable.
I completely agree to this!
I think that learning from another who is learning is very important!
Sometimes we can miss as an instructor on reaching one of our students. But another student can communicate with that person on a peer level and sometimes explain it better.
Not because they are a better instructor, but the fresh feeling of going from not understand the material to understanding the material is still there. So they may know of a great way to reach those who just dont understand after the instructor teaches the information out.
Hi Shelly,
Thank you for your remarks about the success you have had in using student groups. They are very effective when organized and evaluated properly. Group work and projects really helps to expand the social development of students so they will be able to function better when they are in the work world.
Gary
That is an excellent point - I never thought about the benefit of them working with other people because of their future careers. Thank you for the perspective! I'm changing the way I have my students work in groups immediately!
My experience, as a student, was to have random assigned groups. I have experience at both "real-time" classrooms and online classrooms and I think in both instances I preferred this (in hindsight). I think it forced me to work with people that I didn't know very well and wouldn't have gotten to know otherwise. Sometimes students get too comfortable working with the same people and this forces them to step out of their comfort zone a bit. Also, in a professional environment they don't always get to pick who they work with. Part of the experience should also be learning to work with different people even if you don't want to or you don't get along with them.
I like the concept of "counting-off" and creating disussion groups via random selection. Although you need a class size of ten or more to gain a good mix....
Hi Kristine,
This is a "it depends" type of answer. I have the students count off so they have no choice in group selection. I have found that this method gives a very good mix and puts students into diverse groups separate from their friends.
If you are going to have an in-depth discussion where self disclosure is essential or might occur I would assign the students to the groups to get the mix I want. I also assign topics to each member of the group to make sure everyone contributes.
Gary
Question for you - I often have students break into small groups, mostly I let them choose their groups but sometimes I have them count off and get into groups. Which do you think is most effective? Since I teach psychology and some of the questions *might* include self-disclosure (if they are so inclined) I like to let them choose their groups to encourage them to talk openly. However, some groups just don't do it - a couple of the people just sit there. Thoughts on how to combat this?
Kristine McBride
