I have always gotten shy students and extroverts together to form a balance where they'd both have to understand each other in order to be successful. I realize this is not probably the best method, but it is definitely a learning experience on all parts and it gives new experience of what each might be a part of in the real world scenario.
Speaking from personal experience, as an online graduate, my instructors always formed our teams based on our locations so that team projects would not have to be done across different time zones. A togetherness needs to be formed to be successful and some teams who differ personality-wise might have the same goals ideally and will do what it takes to get the job or assignment accomplished. Being able to lead and follow has its advantages and understanding when to lead or follow just makes you that much better of a team member.
I would agree, I have also assigned the weaker student as the leader, forcing them to participate. They will always have fellow team members to fall back on.
Hi Amie!
Too play the devil's advocate - do you think the work environment considers skill level when assigning work groups?
What pretest do you use with your students?
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED106 Facilitator
I don't believe that introducing competition into an educational setting would be a good idea. If anything this may cause behavioral issues and distractions within the class. Teamwork should be encouraged and I believe would be more beneficial for learning and productivity. From my experience though, givin a positive learning environment, group learning doesn't seem to encourage competition but rather teamwork.
When organizing students into group have different sets of students in each group, look for strong leader personalities for each group. Have to group to arrange sitting.
Bob I can see your point... I believe that organizing groups based upon the educators research of the individuals is very much like a real-world scenario...
After-all in the process of getting a job people are not randomly hired... the HR department in conjunction with a particular department are hiring based upon a clear set of criteria... and if all goes well the newly hired individual will add to the strength of his/her priers...
Cheryl I completely agree... random selection I believe is the best way to organize the groups... I have them count off by 1, 2, 3 and so on depending on the size of the class...
Students are keenly aware of what is going on in the classroom and if they think we are playing favorites or some other type of selective process - it seems there is always some sort of objection...
I always look to see which students are absorbing the material and use them to head groups to help the others that might not have the same understanding. This also helps them communicate ideas.
It is important to consider the skill level of the students. Using a pretest allows the instructor to identify the ability levels of the students. The results of the pretest can help you ensure there is diversity in the groups.
Some ways I organize students into work groups in the class or the lab.I would make sure they are students that constantly hang out with each other for one. Two I would choose and older student, a student that always gets good grades, one who gets mediocre grades,one who poor grades. to have some diversity in the group that way every one will have to work together and add their impute.
Most my classes have a few group projects. Most the time before I'm given my class schedule for a term I already know the students I have. Therefore, I can break down the class into equal groups. Each group has a motivator in the group, meaning that when one is slacking the motivator gives them a task to do that is simple so they can atleast join in with the group. After, that simple task is complete hopefully it motivates the slacking student pull more weight for the group. This has worked for me many of times and usually I'm complemented by my peers.
I like to put the higer level students with the lower level. This makes the group better rounded. This also helps the lower level achievers step up and participate in the group. By mixing the groups it helps the lower level students to feel a degree of accomplishment.
Strive for a good balance by evening out leaders in each group to help less understanding students individual group tasks.
I also like the random assignment method of organizing students into groups. This eliminates the question of why was I assigned to this group. This will also prepare the student to the work environment where they will have to work with different employees and customers.
For most of the projects that I have in my classes, I have determined that the most useful - and fairest - way to divide students into work groups is randomly. To achieve this, I simply group them according to the roster. The only exception to this rule is when there are projects to be done that have different and mutually exclusive subject matter. In that case, i may allow students to join groups in a topic for which they have a particular interest.
Students should be organized into groups to ensure maximum student participation. The groups should be balanced to ensure every group learns and accomplishes tasks.
I have tried letting the students pick own groups. This doesn't alway work well. I have tried to put strong students with the weaker ones so they can help then. This has worked for some things. I other way is just random by counting off numbers based on number of groups needed.
For the most part, it seems better to assign the groups yourself--it's very useful in getting students out of their comfort zone with their friends and reminding them they will have to work with all kinds of people out in the real world. Since friends usually sit next to one another, a good way to break that up a little is to to count off-- and then all 1's are together, all 2's are together, and so on.
Does this work well for you? I have had trouble in classes with the group dynamics and the really loud and needy student. I have a hard time speaking up because I do not want to be rude. This can make it really difficult to control the class in or out of groups.
I have the tables numbered 1-12 then I have a class list that I simply put two students at tabe 1 then another two at table 2. this works well for me becuase I change groups everyday and if they have problems working with that group I try to get them to work them out but they will have a new group the next day
