I teach at a technical college and have 2 group assignments each worth 20% of their final grade. I assign the groups and give all members the same grade. I try to stress that rarely in the real world do you get to pick your team. So working with people you may not care for is part of life in the real world. I may incorporate an internal audit/self assessment element into the grade.
I believe that student groups have to be constantly monitored in order to keep students -- of any age or background or whatever -- on task. Students may become too chatty, arguements may develop, people may tend to become too loud, and so on.
Martha,
I agree this is a challenge. One way I've tried to meet this challenge is to have the students provide feedback & even a score for their team members. While not perfect, it does help give a little more perspective on how the group functioned.
Dr. Ryan Meers
Rebecca,
this is definitely one of the on-going challenges of group work. I believe we need to give a little more attention to preparing students for group work & developing the skills they need to be an effective team member.
Dr. Ryan Meers
The challenge for me is grading the group in a fair manner, because someone always feels they put in more work.
For the distance education sector, there are many challenges with creating/using study groups. Our students do not have defined semesters like traditional colleges.
Program start dates begin every Monday. This means instructors are dealing with students that can be at any point in the program at any given time. It would be extremely difficult to form groups with students working within the same time frame.
Our students are currently located all over Canada, and we do have a number of international students too. Students checking in with each other would have to have a great deal of flexibility, as time zones would vary.
I do not want to say study groups for distance education are impossible, but it is extremely challenging. Currently our programs offer many student forms and discussion boards which do require mandatory participation, which is a start in the right direction.
My biggest challange with students working in groups is participation. You always have the "out-going" student who is ready to stand up and speak for everyone, and then you have the "quiet student" who although sometimes is considered lazy is really not. They are just very confined and not comfortable working as a group. Although, through out this course I have learned that if you put those two types of students together, you can have a great out come. Maybe the more outgoing person can help that quiet person come out of his or her shell.
Some challenges that I have come across is the tendency of a small percentage of the group to "coast" if the leadership of the group is very type A and is driven to succeed. This at times creates an environment where the non type A's feel that they cannot get a word in or if they are predisposed to allow other take the lead, this merely exacerbates the situation.
Angelique,
this is definitely a hard part of working with groups.
Dr. Ryan Meers
The most challenging part of groups is getting everybody to participate, and hold there own weight.
The most challenging part of groups are tring to get everybody to participate, and do equal amounts of work.
Daniel,
yes, it is very important that we make sure the groups are balanced & focused on the work.
Dr. Ryan Meers
A major challenge is that if studentgs are not assigned to groups randomly they will inevitably forms groups with their friends. This in turn will lead to a division withing the class. When I assigned students to a group it is always by a random method and my students are aware of that when they first join the class. I do have ot make slight adjustments at times when the groups are first put together to balance student experience.
Sherry,
I would agree, or spend some time talking about the importance of diversity beforehand.
Dr. Ryan Meers
H. ,
I think this is a good solution, at least part of their grade.
Dr. Ryan Meers
I feel that it is best to assign the students into groups yourself, so that you can make sure that each group is well balanced. Students in low/average classes tend to just pick their friends and do not stay on task.The only time that I let students pick their own groups is when I am teaching a highly advance class. These students are all on the same level and tend to pick group members that will benefit their group.
Thanks you for the suggestion Logan. It would give each student a little more control over their individual outcomes.
Tim,
I wrestle with the same issue. I think that in group work you can do this; Each student gets x number of points and they divide those points up among their group members, they can not give themselves any points. So in a perfect world each group member gets the same number of points. If someone is not contributing they get penalized. If someone is not a good team mate, by trying to take over the group they get penalized. And then the instructor has to be sure that group work can only be a positive and not have a negative impact on a final grade or a portfolio.
Logan
Marisa,
I agree that this is a significant challenge. Trying to make the group interesting & engaging is important, however, at times the students need to realize that some tasks in life just need to be done.
Dr. Ryan Meers
The biggest challenge I have had to student groups is "I don't like group work." To date my best reply has been "group work is something that employers are looking for." Diversity is a big part of what employers are seeking so the challenge is to build better groups (assign students vs. self selection) and allow the diversity to come to the top. I think that students worry about how group work will effect their grade: good students worry they will get pulled down, and weaker students may be afraid that the group will not value their contributions. I think the answer may be in assigning groups for the four week class and having the group grade themselves (each other) so if you do not contribute you get a lower score.
